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Trade dress was the basis for (one of the?) Apple/Samsung disputes, with Apple making the argument that the distinctive shape of the early iPhone should not be

Trade dress was the basis for (one of the?) Apple/Samsung disputes, with Apple making the argument that the distinctive shape of the early iPhone should not be copied: https://revisionlegal.com/trademarks/lessons-trademarking-trade-dress-apple-vs-samsung/ https://revisionlegal.com/trademarks/lessons-trademarking-tr...

ehnto 8y ago
Ah yes, the distinctive, never seen before, rounded corner rectangle. A marvel of ingenuity, creativity, and geometric composition.
- ovi256 8y ago
  Intellectual property isn't always about something never seen before, ever, in any application, but about something never seen before in that application. Wipers were famously pateted twice, for ships and for cars. I could see an argument that applying the rounded corner rectange to smartphones is novel so it deserves protection.
  - mosselman 8y ago
    > Wipers were famously pateted twice, for ships and for cars And this doesn't strike you as ridiculous? I understand we want to protect the little man inventor from staying poor as big companies get rich off of their ideas, but something like wipers being a patented concept on each different vehicle is not a function of this need.
    - ovi256 8y ago
      No, we want to encourage people to take good solutions from a domain and to do the work to validate they're good for other domains too. That's non trivial work that needs to be rewarded for it to occur at scale. BTW, the current state of the art in ship windshield wiping does not look like a car wiper at all. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_view_screen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_view_screen
  - defertoreptar 8y ago
    The only thing is that trade dress is being used as a proxy for copyright, and trade dress isn't supposed to protect things that are considered functional. I would say having smoothed corners on a device I use with my hands and hold near my face is very functional.

ehnto 8y ago

Ah yes, the distinctive, never seen before, rounded corner rectangle. A marvel of ingenuity, creativity, and geometric composition.

ovi256 8y ago
Intellectual property isn't always about something never seen before, ever, in any application, but about something never seen before in that application. Wipers were famously pateted twice, for ships and for cars. I could see an argument that applying the rounded corner rectange to smartphones is novel so it deserves protection.
- mosselman 8y ago
  > Wipers were famously pateted twice, for ships and for cars And this doesn't strike you as ridiculous? I understand we want to protect the little man inventor from staying poor as big companies get rich off of their ideas, but something like wipers being a patented concept on each different vehicle is not a function of this need.
  - ovi256 8y ago
    No, we want to encourage people to take good solutions from a domain and to do the work to validate they're good for other domains too. That's non trivial work that needs to be rewarded for it to occur at scale. BTW, the current state of the art in ship windshield wiping does not look like a car wiper at all. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_view_screen https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clear_view_screen
- defertoreptar 8y ago
  The only thing is that trade dress is being used as a proxy for copyright, and trade dress isn't supposed to protect things that are considered functional. I would say having smoothed corners on a device I use with my hands and hold near my face is very functional.