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It's trademark... No you can't go on individual features, like being rectangular, or a grid of icons, or thin, but once you put that all together in a certain w
by jameskilton 16y ago
It's trademark... No you can't go on individual features, like being rectangular, or a grid of icons, or thin, but once you put that all together in a certain way, you start getting into design trademarks.
Samsung's phone is close to the same dimensions AND has the grid of applications AND has that grid at the same dimensions AND has the "dock" AND that "dock" has 4 applications AND the phone has a single "home" button at the bottom AND the speaker at the top is thin and rectangular... as the iPhone.
Yes, imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, but when you start confusing consumers as to who's is who's, you're no longer in the "flattery" area.
- cube13 16y ago>It's trademark... No you can't go on individual features, like being rectangular, or a grid of icons, or thin, but once you put that all together in a certain way, you start getting into design trademarks. If it is the trademarks, it's really no surprise that Apple is suing. In order to keep a trademark, you have to maintain it. So Apple probably had to sue to keep their iphone trademarks. Google has the same issue with the use of the word "Google" as a verb.
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- thezilch 16y agoI believe you only can stand on the "dock" issue, not including it having 4 apps, as the grid constitutes that number. EVERY other point can be found together on phones pre-dating the iPhone.
- wtallis 16y agoEven if the concept of third-party prior art applied to trademark disputes, there would have to be a pre-iPhone product that exhibited all of those features for it to be a good defense. Merely showing that each feature had appeared before in some product would not be sufficient.
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- cookiecaper 16y agoI'm not a lawyer but I don't really see how this has anything to do with trademarks. The article mentions trademarks only insofar as some icons on the Galaxy may infringe on trademarks held by Apple (i.e., the icon is so close to the iOS version that a consumer would not be able to tell the difference). Everything else is a patent dispute, and I think all of us know the validity of these patent-based suits. It really doesn't have anything to do with trademarks at all, except for a couple of instances of icons distributed with the phone.
- warfangle 16y agoSamsung's phone has an optical trackpad, a back button, and a home button at the bottom. With the trackpad in the middle. Oh crap, they have a speaker at the top, too. My goodness. I guess I'll have to make my next mobile phone ovoid with the speaker on the bottom and the icons arranged in a dodecahedron.