
Older iPhones, iPads banned as agency says Apple infringed on Samsung patent - eplanit
http://www.washingtonpost.com/business/technology/sales-of-older-iphones-ipads-banned-as-agency-says-apple-infringed-on-samsung-patent/2013/06/04/f9dd4a00-cd5e-11e2-9f1a-1a7cdee20287_story.html
======
WildUtah
Looks like Samsung got denied on all the current models and can prohibit the
importation of only the iPhone 4 and earlier models.

Meanwhile Apple is still trying to get the courts to ban the import of the
Samsung's 2011 Galaxy Nexus based on the case last year.

Well, at least the plodding and ridiculously slow pace of justice is a good
thing for once. If it takes two years to ban a model of smart phone, they'll
never manage to ban one that's important in the market.

~~~
Alterlife
It probably depends.

If the phones are already manufactured and can't be sold, two years after
release or not, it would be a big hit... right in the moneys.

~~~
plorkyeran
Having to sit on five days' worth of unsellable phones would not be all that
painful.

~~~
caf
Not to mention that they can just be shipped to another market and sold there.

------
dariusm5
I find it interesting that the patent being infringed by Apple was a standard
essential patent. Given that Motorola has been having so much difficulty going
after Microsoft over FRAND patents, I'm surprised Samsung's lawyers were able
to pull this off.

~~~
josephlord
It seems that the ITC are on a different planet from the Federal Courts, the
FTC (antitrust enforcement), a cross party Congressional letter and other
countries courts (with the possible exception of the German courts) when it
comes to the idea of injuctive relief over standards essential patents and
FRAND commitments.

------
nicholassmith
Just to add some more flavour to the matter, the European Commission has said
they'd impose fines against Samsung if they tried to prevent sale of any
device over a SEP patent issue. It seems like the ITC have made a decision,
which is their prerogative, that's an odds with how it's treated everywhere
else.

Apple hasn't got clean hands in the matter, they've been more than happy to
saddle up and legal-cowboy their way into forcing decisions, but using a SEP
to force an import ban is a pretty bad choice. Apple says Samsung wouldn't
play ball in fair and equitable terms, that's a distinct possibility. The ITC
seems to think Apple should have take the deal, so we don't know all the
details yet, it'll be interesting to see what comes out.

------
kunai
I think both companies need to just chill out and let the best man win instead
of clawing at each other immaturely.

~~~
dirkgently
Funny that everybody is realizing this _now_ - not when Apple was suing others
for Rounded Corner (TM)(R)(C).

~~~
jkubicek
I don't think this is surprising at all. Apple's allegations against Samsung
were largely visual and easy for the layperson to understand. It makes sense
that Apple's position would carry more weight in the mainstream media.

~~~
waps
Except of course it was rounded corners. Rounded corners.

~~~
clarky07
right. these phones aren't similar at all. [http://cdn.redmondpie.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/08/iphone-...](http://cdn.redmondpie.com/wp-
content/uploads/2011/08/iphone-3gs-und-samsung-galaxy-s.png)

/sarcasm

~~~
dirkgently
Well, if this is a free for all troll thread, then let me jump in.

The one on the right looks much better.

~~~
clarky07
much better than what? some other phone? because the 2 shown are nearly
identical. grandma wouldn't know which was which except for the word "samsung"
on it (from any distance).

~~~
devcpp
Come on, all of this is fairly obvious. Let's say you take a Nokia brick and
want to put one touch screen instead of a display and an input panel. What do
you do? Something that looks exactly like that. The screen gets larger, the
buttons go down and everything else stays the same (yeah, pre-iPhone dumb
phones had nice icons in a grid too, remember?).

I mean, you're not going to put the speakers behind, or put fragile sharp
corners, or put the buttons on the middle of the screen, just because Apple
did something similar!

This is fairly obvious stuff when developing a smart phone out of a dumb
phone. Dumb phones looked alike too, just like fridges and microwaves look
alike, and that's because these things just make sense.

~~~
sbuk
The other android handsets released around the same time didn't mimick the
look of the iPhone. Take the HTC Desire for instance, it has the same cues you
mention but looks very different.

~~~
analog
Your point is proven wrong though by the fact that there were phones that
looked like the iPhone before the iPhone.

Granted they were rubbish to actually use, but they _looked_ good, just like
the iPhone does.

~~~
sbuk
The icons are on a 4x4 grid with 4 additional icons on a dock. There is a
contrasting chrome bezel framing the glossy black front elevation of the
device. On this elevation, the ear piece is positioned a few millimetres down
from the top edge. At the bottom of the elevation their is a single large
button that returns the user back to the principal screen. Which phone am I
describing?

~~~
analog
_There is a contrasting chrome bezel framing the glossy black front elevation
of the device._

LG Prada.

 _On this elevation, the ear piece is positioned a few millimetres down from
the top edge._

LG Prada.

 _At the bottom of the elevation their is a single large button that returns
the user back to the principal screen._

Ok you got me there, the LG Prada has two large buttons at the bottom of the
elevation.

~~~
sbuk
Are you really going to suggest that Apple took LG's Prada concept, which was
announced on the 12 December 2006, and copied their version (which looks
_nothing_ like the Prada, which was a _feature_ phone) which they announced 28
days later, bearing in mind that this was over the Christmas period? I've
worked in manufacturing for a nearly 2 decades and I can assure you that it is
_actually_ impossible to do this. Neither the iPhone or the Galaxy S look
anything like the LG Prada. Incidentally, the Samsung device was announced
over 3 years _after_ the iPhone was initially launched. I'd suggest that the
point that you are trying to make is void of any merit whatsoever.

~~~
analog
And I'd suggest that you're full of it if you claim the iPhone looks nothing
like the LG Prada.

You attempted to describe the iPhone in 4 points. 2 of those points _exactly_
described the LG Prada, the other 2 were very similar (a 2x3 grid instead of a
4x4 grid, 2 large buttons instead of 1 large button).

~~~
sbuk
"You attempted to describe the iPhone in 4 points. 2 of those points exactly
described the LG Prada"

I was describing the Galaxy S.

~~~
analog
Well that's a pretty disingenuous thing to say, but hey, if the facts don't
happen to support your arguments why not just start trolling?

~~~
sbuk
Wow. Calling me a liar _and_ a troll. This from someone that wrote:

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5824190>

and

<https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5826888>

Both demonstrably false too.

~~~
analog
At what point did I call you a liar?

~~~
sbuk
Really? _"Well that's a pretty disingenuous thing to say,"_

~~~
analog
You don't know what disingenuous means then.

~~~
sbuk
Grow up will you. By saying that I was being disingenuous you were saying that
I was being insincere about my reply. That is tantamount to calling me a liar
without going so far. End of.

~~~
analog
It's quite possible to be insincere without lying outright. If I'd meant to
call you a liar then that is the word I would have used. I used the word
_disingenous_ because that is what I meant.

Please try not to be so hysterical.

~~~
sbuk
You've got to be seen to have the last word. You were wrong. You called and
continue to call me names, and you call _me_ hysterical? Troll.

------
jpdoctor
Well, since the power buttons are now failing on the iPhone 4's, it's not too
much of a loss.

------
kondro
It's a good thing both of these products are almost end-of-life.

~~~
dirkgently
You mean it's good thing for Apple.

~~~
sbuk
Why? It seems to me that you aren't actually interested in discussing the
merits, or lack there of in this particular case, you're just trying to elicit
a negative response.

~~~
dirkgently
No - I am all for a good discussion, as long as the involved parties have not
decided the winner already.

~~~
sbuk
So why then does it appear that you have decided Samsung to be in the right?

~~~
dirkgently
I haven't. But I have a tendency to support anyone fighting against a bully.

~~~
sbuk
As do I.

