
Ban this: Apple lists 8 Samsung devices it wants kept out of the US  - evo_9
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/08/ban-this-apple-lists-8-samsung-devices-it-wants-kept-out-of-the-us/
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thezilch
If you're like me and want to actually compare the listed devices and
patents...

    
    
      Design patent '305: Icon interface and grid layout
      Design patent '677: iPhone design, edge-to-edge glass and display borders, front speaker
      Utility patent '163: Tapping to zoom
      Utility patent '381: "Rubber-band effect," bouncing back when scrolling to end of a page
      Utility patent '915: "Pinch-to-zoom," distinguishing between single-touch and multitouch gestures
    

1\. Galaxy S 4G (all): <http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-
phones/SGH-T959HABTMB>

2\. Galaxy S2 AT&T (677; all utility): <http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-
phones/SGH-I777ZKAATT>

3\. Galaxy S2 Skyrocket (677): <http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-
phones/SGH-I727MSAATT>

4\. Galaxy S2 T-Mobile (677; 915, 163):
<http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-phones/SGH-T989ZKBTMB>

5\. Galaxy S2 Epic 4G (677): <http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-
phones/SPH-D710ZKASPR>

6\. Galaxy Showcase (677, 305): <http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-
phones/SCH-I500RKBXAR>

7\. Droid Charge (305; all utility): <http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-
phones/SCH-I510RAAVZW>

8\. Galaxy Prevail (all utility): <http://www.samsung.com/us/mobile/cell-
phones/SPH-M820ZKABST>

Regardless of my feelings on the lunacy in these being patents, a few
takeaways from myself. Only the design patents are featured when selling a
phone, by Samsung or Apple, and I'd argue the utility patents are not a
selling point, even for those that try a phone before purchasing. If these
features are offensive enough to outright ban and garnish earnings from, why
aren't they, at all, a part of the buying process? Try it out; search for
"zoom" on any of Apple's or Samsung's product pages. Someone help me out and
find who has a patent on having a CD player in a car.

As well, Samsung has been painted as stealing wholesale, but why are they so
inconsistent in stealing the farm for every phone? And the S3, which is an
even better seller?

~~~
iyulaev
"Design patent '305: Icon interface and grid layout

Design patent '677: iPhone design, edge-to-edge glass and display borders,
front speaker"

Some part of me just wants to scream.

~~~
wtallis
Please keep in mind the difference between the _title_ of a patent, and the
_claims_ of a patent. The title is inconsequential (and in fact, there's some
incentive to make it as unhelpful as possible). The claims are the important
part of a patent.

~~~
mdwrigh2
While true, I think looking at the quote from the jurors paints a different
picture for their criteria:

"Once you determine that Samsung violated the patents, it's easy to just go
down those different [Samsung] products, because it was all the same. Like the
trade dress -- once you determine Samsung violated the trade dress, the flat
screen with the bezel...then you go down the products to see if it had a
bezel."

------
stonefroot
These all seem to be such frivolous things in relation to the function of a
computing device.

They have nothing to do with capabilities or performance.

Gimmicks.

Just my personal opinion.

~~~
chucknelson
Yes, "gimmicks" that make billions upon billions of dollars.

~~~
stonefroot
How do you know it's the gimmicks that make the "billions upon billions" of
dollars? Are you making some assumptions?

Could marketing play a role in consumer decisions?

------
dwoldrich
... and the classy thing for Apple to do now would be to say, "ok our point
was made, keep selling your crappy old phones, just make sure any new ones
don't infringe on our designs."

Jobs is dead and buried, let's bury his hatchet too, eh? This is all very
tiresome. I'd love it if this became a widespread PR negative for Apple and
became a pyrrhic victory for them.

------
zerostar07
The fact that the verdict is based on trivial patents is actually a good
thing. Samsung can redesign the phone case and do trivial software changes and
come up with 8 brand new phones officially declared to be comparable to the
iphone.

Am I the only one who thinks rounded edges are so 1950s ?

~~~
ajross
No, that will get them a phone that fails to infringe on _these_ trivial
patents. Surely Apple has more, and is filing for still more as we speak. As
is every other player. The next victim may be Apple itself.

You can't win this game by avoiding infringement. It's never worked that way.

------
ladzoppelin
My opinion: I don't think Apple really cares about Samsung and just used this
trial to slide in these trivial UI patents in order to have leverage against
anyone making smart phones. It is to early to really know if anything in this
trial is valid and what exactly this means going forward. Good luck trying to
find unbiased information about this topic as Apple has already given their
users the battle cry ("Samsung steals") which of course dominates all these
stupid conversations.

------
bane
So here is a fun idea (that nobody will probably take up). In the U.S. you can
sue for _anything_ and _any reason_. If this happens, it would be an
interesting exercise to sue Apple (large, class-action) for limiting the
availability of marketplace options.

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TazeTSchnitzel
They... don't want to ban the S3?

Edit: Oh, I see, that came out since the trial started.

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bsphil
The actual case covered far more phones than this ban list, they seem to only
be interested in banning the top selling phones.

Though that'll just drive more sales to the Galaxy S3, I assume.

~~~
spinchange
These are all the (now) older and therefore even cheaper models. I think in
general, Apple seeks to "decommoditize" the smart phone market.

------
emehrkay
Doesn't Apple have a patent on multitouch in general? Remember when the first
few versions of Android did everything not to step on those patents? When and
why did that change?

~~~
manaskarekar
And whatever happened to MS surface and any patents they held?

------
maeon3
Apple would patent "Rectangular input screen" if the legal system would let
them. As a proud and happy owner of an Android Galaxy S2 I will do all I can
to thwart apple from additional profit from me or anyone I know.

