We’ve given up trying to keep up with Apple’s generally dubious claims to get rival products banned off the shelves around the world, but were pleased to discover that their latest attempts against HTC and Samsung in the UK have been booted out of court.
Today, the High Court of England & Wales declared that Samsung’s Galaxy Tab tablet devices do not infringe on Apple designs, with the court finding recognisable differences between the Galaxy Tab 7.7, Galaxy Tab 10.1 and Galaxy Tab 8.9 tablets and the Apple iPads.
Outrageously, Apple had insisted that the three Samsung tablet products were guilty on infringing on their design rights, by virtue of them having features such as ‘slightly rounded corners,’ ‘a flat transparent surface without any ornamentation,’ and ‘a thin profile.’
The High Court rightly kicked this crap out of court, with Samsung’s defence team referring to approximately “50 examples of prior art, or designs that were previously created or patented, from before 2004”.
We can’t imagine any normal person has ever gone into a shop to buy an iPad and mistakenly bought a Samsung Galaxy instead, so we’re pleased to see Apple’s spurious claims getting such thrift. [Source]
HTC case defeat
Last week, Apple also lost its case against HTC over four technologies that Apple had claimed as its own, including the ‘swipe to unlock feature’ found on their Android handsets (see archive video below).
The judge ruled that Apple’s slide-to-unlock feature was an “obvious” development in the light of a similar function been seen in Microsoft’s CE system [BBC].
A win for consumers
Sadly, these defeats are unlikely to stop Apple continuing their campaign of trying to block rival products elsewhere in the world with yet more spurious claims, but we’d count their failure to secure wins in the UK a victory for consumers, common sense and a healthy competitive electronics market.
Why do people keep buying Apple products? From FoxConn to itunes to these court cases, we all know how dodgy this firm is. Apples contribution to world computing can’t be denied, but that shouldn’t shield them from criticism.
I think the fact that the Apple Mac is the weapon of choice for the liberal artistic/media/creative community has allowed Apple to get away with *way* too much in the past. Happily, that is slowly changing.