

UK Judge says Galaxy Tab 'not as cool' as iPad, awards Samsung win in suit - mrsebastian
http://www.engadget.com/2012/07/09/uk-judge-says-galaxy-tab-not-as-cool-as-ipad-awards-samsung-w/

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rkaplan
This article is very misleading. Here is the actual full statement, courtesy
of [http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/46416/samsung-statement-
appl...](http://www.pocket-lint.com/news/46416/samsung-statement-apple-court-
ruling-britain) :

"In a ruling on July 9, 2012, the High Court of England & Wales sided with
Samsung that the designs of the Galaxy Tab series of products are 'different'
from an Apple tablet design, and do not infringe Apple’s Registered Community
Design No. 181607-0001. Samsung products subject to this trial were the Galaxy
Tab 10.1, the Galaxy Tab 8.9, and the Galaxy Tab 7.7.

"Samsung had requested this voluntary trial in September 2011, in order to
oppose Apple’s ongoing efforts to reduce consumer choice and innovation in the
tablet market through their excessive legal claims and arguments. Apple has
insisted that the three Samsung tablet products infringe several features of
Apple’s design right, such as 'slightly rounded corners,' 'a flat transparent
surface without any ornamentation,' and 'a thin profile.'

"However, the High Court dismissed Apple’s arguments by referring to
approximately 50 examples of prior art, or designs that were previously
created or patented, from before 2004. These include the Knight Ridder (1994),
the Ozolin (2004), and HP’s TC1000 (2003). The court found numerous Apple
design features to lack originality, and numerous identical design features to
have been visible in a wide range of earlier tablet designs from before 2004.

"Equally important, the court also found distinct differences between the
Samsung and Apple tablet designs, which the court claimed were apparent to the
naked eye. For instance, the court cited noticeable differences in the front
surface design and in the thinness of the side profile. The court found the
most vivid differences in the rear surface design, a part of tablets that
allows designers a high degree of freedom for creativity, as there are no
display panels, buttons, or any technical functions. Samsung was recognised by
the court for having leveraged such conditions of the rear surface to clearly
differentiate its tablet products through 'visible detailing.'

"Samsung welcomes today’s ruling by the High Court, which affirms Samsung’s
commitment to protect its own intellectual property rights while respecting
those of other companies. Samsung believes Apple’s excessive legal claims
based on such a generic design right can harm not only the industry’s
innovation as a whole, but also unduly limit consumer choice."

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bornhuetter
That was a really poorly written article, even by Engadget standards.

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andyjohnson0
The full judgement is here:
[http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Judgment...](http://www.judiciary.gov.uk/Resources/JCO/Documents/Judgments/samsung-
apple.pdf)

The word "cool" appears twice, and the quotes from the Engadget article are
there (albeit selected from a long document).

Kind of strange to read a British High Court judge commenting on coolness in
industrial design.

~~~
Nursie
And we all know that what an ageing judge thinks is cool must be right on the
bleeding edge of hip-ness :)

~~~
zspade
I'm not sure age matters as much as we might think it does. Steve jobs was no
young man when Apple came back from near oblivion, and he was very active in
determining what was "cool".

~~~
novalis
I'm not sure having someone invested in determining 'cool' is valid in any way
or if it even has any meaning or should be given any importance.

But seems you attribute a value to that, so subjectivly that will work for you
and it will provide a self rewarding feeling of belonging. Look at it in a
broader way and we are back to square one, each person gets to pick what the
person wants and likes, no matter how influenceable one is. It's just that.
Lets not group this judge, Jobs and the Fonz for reinforcement conditioning.

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phpnode
is this just an ingenious way of preventing an appeal by Apple? They probably
don't want to see headlines like "Apple claims Galaxy Tab 'just as cool' as
iPad"

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grabeh
This decision is limited to registered design right and so has limited effect.
However, it is the right decison and is well reasoned notwithstanding the
judge's reference to the respective coolness of each of the products.

I am surprised that Apple's lawyers advised them to pursue the claim
considering the prior art and the basic nature of the designs. Having only
just looked at Apple's registered design on the OHIM website, it is a little
laughable (resembling a dinner tray on first impressions).

<https://www.dropbox.com/s/zhto46p2jphrq27/apple.bmp>

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rickmb
Funny enough this suggest that the judge understands the subtleties of design
better than the tech-heads at Engadget, who like so many others regularly
claim competing products match the design quality of Apple products.

It always irks me when people, especially professional critics and reviewers,
call it a matter of taste just because they can't spot the difference. It
isn't. Personal preference is a matter of taste, but the difference in design
quality between Samsung (or HTC, or Dell, etc) and Apple is objectively
observable. Just like there is a clear difference between a TV set designed by
Samsung and one by Bang & Olufsen or Loewe.

(Which is exactly why I believe Apple should stop suing second rate look-
alikes. If people want to buy Samsung they were never potential Apple clients
in the first place, and if Apple wants that market too they should just build
products for it.)

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ajross
I won't dive in to argue with you, because clearly that's been done before.
I'll just point out that you made that "objectively observable" point without
any actual, y'know, evidence. That, by definition, makes your argument one of
taste, not facts. Please (please!) stop.

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Retric
As an objective fact Apples rate of tablet defects is well below Samsung's.

~~~
etherael
Asus' rate of laptop defects is well below apple. Does that mean they're
objectively better designed? This is just more apple fanboyism masquerading as
an appeal to rationality, rebuke was perfectly justified.

~~~
Retric
IMO, Asus laptops are better designed than Apple's laptop's so I don't
disagree with that line of thinking. However, when you take an iPad apart they
are much better designed internally than most of their competitors. Probably
because most of those laptops where rushed imitations. The Nexus 7 could be
the tipping point, but it's also 200$ which makes direct comparisons harder.

Anyway, prior to the iPhone Samsung was my faverate cellphone manufacture and
they made some great monitors, so IMO just give them time and they will start
making great tablets.

