back to article Now Apple wants Samsung S III, Galaxy Notes off the shelves too

Apple has now claimed Samsung's flagship gadgets the Galaxy S III and the Galaxy Note infringe its mobile phone patents in a SECOND lawsuit in the US. In separate legal action running in parallel to the epic trial that concluded last month, the iPhone maker has now listed 21 Sammy phones and tablets as devices that allegedly …

COMMENTS

This topic is closed for new posts.
  1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge
    Trollface

    Oh my here we go.

    Cook sending in the troops to take Sammygrad once and for all?

    This will go well.

    1. Shagbag

      Re: Oh my here we go.

      Agreed.

      Is there no end to Apple's quest for self-destruction? Despite their 'win', the feedback from the Apple v Samsung case has been negative towards them with many (finally) waking up to the realisation that patents in the software industry retard innovation.

      This latest attempt will come back to haunt them.

    2. henrydddd
      Linux

      Re: Oh my here we go.

      This isn't only an attempt to get rid of Samsung, it is an attempt get rid of Android and all competition to Apple products.

      1. samlebon23

        Re: Oh my here we go.

        You are right. Remember what Rockefeller said "Competition is a sin".

      2. Ian Johnston Silver badge
        FAIL

        Re: Oh my here we go.

        And look how well the same thing worked when they tried it with the original Mac. Sure, they protected the idea of resizeable windows ... for a bit.

      3. Robredz
        Linux

        Re: Oh my here we go.

        Looks like that is the end game desire in the impregnable Cupertino Bunker, what next Tractor Beams to draw Sammy phones from pockets to be zapped by a hidden laser in an adjacent I-Phone?

    3. J. R. Hartley

      Re: Oh my here we go.

      Can I just take this chance to say I really, really, really, really despise Apple and can't wait until karma hits them hard. Complete assholes!!

  2. taxman
    Stop

    And while we're at it

    we also want the Galaxy SIV taken off the selves too. Whaddayamean too early?!!

    1. Havin_it
      Coat

      Re: And while we're at it

      I don't think the case against the SIV will hold water...

      1. Rabbit80
        Thumb Up

        Re: And while we're at it

        Agreed. Theres too many holes in it.

      2. taxman

        Re: And while we're at it

        Boom - tish. I thank you! Another upvote.

  3. Spider
    Unhappy

    Shocker

    Apple demand anything not made by Apple be banned, burnt and buried at a crossroads as unholy.

    ...give it a feckin rest ffs.

    1. Riccardo Spagni
      Meh

      Re: Shocker

      Whilst I don't agree with the approach Apple are taking, there are sound legal reasons for what is happening. Their initial filing excluded certain devices that were unreleased or unconfirmed at the time of initial filing. Now that they have the judgement, they have requested additional devices based on that judgement and based on which specific patents Samsung have infringed upon. In their latest filing they specify which patents these additional devices infringe on. From a legal perspective, it's hard to make a case against this new filing, as if we agree with the jury's finding, Samsung have indeed continued to infringe on their patents.

      Again, not saying I agree with Apple's approach, but bear in mind that legally speaking this is a perfectly sound and logical path.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Shocker

        Being legally sound does not mean "right" or "just". Laws can be changed. It is not logical to equate legally correct with ethically and morally correct. The Galaxy Note for example integrates use of a stylus into the user interface, and not a big fingertip sized stylus, enhancing the user experience and functionality of the device.

        Boycot any company that behaves in the manner that Apple is behaving.

      2. Spider
        Unhappy

        Re: Shocker

        Whilst I manage to grasp the fundamentals of "a hoard of lawyers can persuade a jury that it has broken some highly technical law", and I actually agree with the basis of IP, (otherwise why innovate? blah blah..), and truth be told I'm not pro or anti apple on the whole, this is just taking the p1ss now.

        The law was never made to deal with these highly pedantic issues. It needs changing and fast. Whilst it may be legal etc so was a whole host of very wrong legislation which was eventually and thankfully consigned to the recycle bin of history. Sooner this joins them the better...

      3. cmaurand
        Linux

        Re: Shocker

        I'm not so sure that the original verdict in the case will stand. One of the issues that was won was that of touching an icon and having the phone do something. There's so much prior art for that, that I don't think it can stand. Even if the judge doesn't overturn some of the verdict for the jury not following instructions, the appeals court will probably overturn it. This isn't over by a long shot and I don't think that any kind of injunction will stand. I own a Galaxy SIII and the way it operates is much different than an iPhone. I wonder what would happen to the iPhone if Samsung suddenly cut off it's supply of chips.

      4. TAJW
        FAIL

        Re: Shocker

        Yes...their initial filing did exclude certain devices that were unreleased or unconfirmed at the time of initial filing.

        So...I'm filiing a patent for design, innovation, look and feel and user interface for hover cars of all types. Anything that might be invented, thought of, contemplated, dreamed about, had a passing thought of, or anything is soley my property, and no one else can even go there.

        I own it...all of it. Now and forever. Just like Apple.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Shocker

      Apple must be a member of the Freedom From Religion Foundation.

  4. Miek
    Linux

    Can't compete? Try using the Ban-Hammer.

    1. tirk
      Mushroom

      Equally...

      "Can't compete? Try copying the market-leading product."

      What do you mean, there are laws against that?

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Equally...

        @tirk

        Glad to see you are taking Samsung's side too.

      2. Arctic fox
        Thumb Down

        @tirk RE:".......there are laws against that?"

        I had intended to post something to the following effect. "Anybody actually going to post defending Cupertino's attempt to ban the GSIII and the note?". In my naivety I could not believe that anyone, not even the the most borderline psychopathic enthusiastic Apple fanboi could bring themselves to defend the latest developments with the attempt to ban those devices. Then bugger me, I read your post. It just goes to show.

        1. tirk
          WTF?

          Re: @tirk RE:".......there are laws against that?"

          By no means an Apple fanboi (thanks for the insult), just pointing out that Samsung *also* did something wrong. Nice to see all those knees jerking whenever Apple is mentioned!

          1. Miek
            Coat

            Re: @tirk RE:".......there are laws against that?"

            @tirk

            " just pointing out that Samsung *also* did something wrong. Nice to see all those knees jerking whenever Apple is mentioned!" -- Ahem, the S2, for example is a vastly superior phone as compared with the iPhones it resembles. In my eyes, even if Samsung Copied "A round cornered rectangle, with it's face comprised or mainly a screen and some token buttons", they did a bloody good job of it.

            Aside from that, I have a Nokia N810 that looks uncannily similar to an iPhone 4 (except for the slide out keyboard) yet it predates the iPhone 4. Pots, Kettles, Coat, Door.

          2. David Simpson 1
            FAIL

            Re: @tirk RE:".......there are laws against that?"

            They only did it wrong in America so far - Apple lost in the UK, Japan, Germany and Australia.

        2. Fatman
          WTF?

          Re: most borderline psychopathic enthusiastic Apple fanboi

          Why did you change that??

          You had it right the first time

          "most borderline psychopathic enthusiastic Apple fanboi"

      3. Mark .

        Re: Equally...

        Since the Iphone platform has never been the number one platform (it was Symbian, then Android), I guess you must be accusing Apple of copying the leading platforms here.

        1. tirk
          WTF?

          "Since the Iphone platform has never been the number one platform..."

          Indeed, that's why I didn't write "platform".

          1. Mark .

            Re: "Since the Iphone platform has never been the number one platform..."

            So what did you mean? The Iphone is a platform, not a single product (and comparing single products is a poor measure, as it just depends on how companies choose to categorise their devices - if one company sells 101 of a product, and another company sells 200, but split between two similar devices they label differently, only an idiot would suggest the former is leading; although it's interesting to note that even by individual models, the S3 alone is now outselling the Iphone 4S in many markets, despite it being only one of many Samsung phones, and many Android phones, compared to Apple's single phone).

            Perhaps you mean that Apple lead, but sorry, that was Nokia, and now Samsung. Please try again.

      4. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Equally...

        Damn right that ridiculously huge device should be banned not for lightly immitating an Apple device, but for potentially giving people potential long term injuries to their hand in the long-term. Especially when attempting to use it with one hand. Actually, all 4"+ devices that are wider than current 3.5" equivalents in terms of ratio should banned.

        Anon because I know they'll be a wave of fandroids lighting up to red on just on their furied cheeks, but planting the anti-Apple button.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Equally...

          "Potential long term injuries to their hand in the long-term"? You know what we hate? Redundant tautology! Oh, and rhetorical questions.

          Also, while you're raging incoherently about "a wave of fandroids lighting up to red on just on their furied cheeks, but planting the anti-Apple button*", does a Galaxy S3 really hurt you to hold? You must have very small hands. My female colleague (who is about five foot nowt and rather dainty) has no problem with the ergonomics of hers. Are you, perhaps, compensating for something?

          The only device that makes my hands ache a bit is my iPad, when I play crazy racing games on it for ages- but that's my old silly fault (and it is a large device, built like a fricken' tank).

          * This was probably fine soaring demagoguery in your own mind before you typed it, but it merely makes it sound like you forgot to take your pills today.

          1. Anonymous Coward
            Anonymous Coward

            Re: Equally...

            @AC 15:56

            "Also, while you're raging incoherently about "a wave of fandroids lighting up to red on just on their furied cheeks, but planting the anti-Apple button*", does a Galaxy S3 really hurt you to hold? You must have very small hands. My female colleague (who is about five foot nowt and rather dainty) has no problem with the ergonomics of hers. Are you, perhaps, compensating for something?" -

            It's a pain in the friggin' ass to hold when looking at them in the shops. Same as any phone of the same size or larger. Not just that, I know when trying one personally, it's difficult to hold it and navigate the touch screen at the same time without needing the second hand as a counter-balance. It's a phone, not a computer.

            "The only device that makes my hands ache a bit is my iPad, when I play crazy racing games on it for ages- but that's my old silly fault (and it is a large device, built like a fricken' tank)." -

            Fine if must have weak hands and you must be holding it wrong :).

            "* This was probably fine soaring demagoguery in your own mind before you typed it, but it merely makes it sound like you forgot to take your pills today." -

            I did mean the "red downvote anti-apple" button. Anyway, have fun later in life when you're complaining of acute arthritis/rsi later in life.

        2. samlebon23
          Facepalm

          Re: Equally...

          " Actually, all 4"+ devices that are wider than current 3.5" equivalents in terms of ratio should banned"

          You mean all the tablets should be banned? Look at tablets, they look like huge phones, by your definition they should be banned. Tell you what, you can injure yourself just by lying down on the couch and watching TV. OK, we ban those goddamn TVs. What about blender, toasters, cars... I stop here because I broke my keyboard after I felt a terrible pain in my fingers.

      5. Peter 48
        Trollface

        Re: Equally...

        ""Can't compete? Try copying the market-leading product."" - exactly, that is why apple is copying the 8.9" galaxy tab, adding a larger screen to their next phone and adding numerous Android features to its next devices.

    2. Colin Millar
      Megaphone

      You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

      Apple? - can't compete?

      Their stuff may be overpriced shite but competing is one thing they don't actually have a problem with doing well.

      Oh - and some baccy tin companies want their rounded edges back - innovative design my arse.

      1. NPCO543

        Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

        Actually, if you really think about it, despite how it may appear at first glance, Apple doesn't compete or innovate very well.

        They typically enter already established markets after sitting on the sidelines for many years observing what works and what doesn't. Their products, while very well designed, integrated and user friendly, are usually rather light on features and capabilities, and they are typically slow to add new features. Consider:

        -The first iPhone didn't ship with an App Store and, as such, it was terribly limited in it's functionality.

        -The iOS notification center is a complete copy of what was available on Android since it's inception.

        -iOS lacked multitasking until version 4

        -iOS still doesn't support any home screen widgets.

        -Even the current iPhone doesn't offer many features common on many other smartphones - 4G, NFC, removable storage.

        These aren't signs of a company who competes very well. What Apple DOES do well is marketing. They have the ability to create intense, almost blind desire for their products, regardless of the comparative capabilities of those products.

        Apple very much has a problem competing, and that's precisely why they've resorted to litigation to stall competition. Apple enters markets with an initial "Bang", and then rests on it's laurels for as long as possible, repackaging the same basic device in new shells over and over, adding the bare minimum of improvements to not make it blatantly obvious that they're behind the curve. Whether this is because they want to do individual products "right" and not just release numerous, lower quality products is more or less irrelevant. The fact is that other companies bring more, and more advanced, products to market with an acceptable quality and better price than Apple can, or is willing, to do.

        1. the-it-slayer

          Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

          @NPCO543

          "- The first iPhone didn't ship with an App Store and, as such, it was terribly limited in it's functionality." - It was sold as an experimental product. The App Store wasn't needed until there was a realisation of developers wanting to jump onboard. Very smart move than actually contained the iPhone to working as a proper phone first (unlike Android's knee-jerk reaction).

          "- The iOS notification center is a complete copy of what was available on Android since it's inception." - Nope. The first notification centre from Android (on what I experienced with the first public version on the G1) was just a list of apps that had something to say. Didn't offer any snippits of info and the only similarity was the drag-down from top action.

          "- iOS lacked multitasking until version 4" - Okay, that was a major grumble until Apple realised that closing down apps on exit wasn't a good idea. No phone OS has native multitasking. At least they listened, learnt and applied it right.

          "- iOS still doesn't support any home screen widgets." - Most pointless feature on mobile OSes. Takes up unneccessary resources, always made my Android phone crash (when on lower spec'd phones especially) and inbuilt apps should be able to do the work for you.

          "- Even the current iPhone doesn't offer many features common on many other smartphones - 4G, NFC, removable storage." - 4G? Questionable really. Outside US is a mess as most countries are slow at adopting the standard. NFC? Still relatively new outside the Apple realm and most countries again slow to adopt. Removable storage? Why do you need it? Should be built into the phone in the first place.

          Apple does well at marketing and making high quality products that last a long time. Hey, I'm pretty sure you've replaced your fandroid box every 6 months because the plastic shattered or it's too slow with the new OS upgrade. I'm sure you noticed plenty of 3G/3GS's knocking about. Proves a point.

          1. Peter 48
            Stop

            Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

            "It was sold as an experimental product." I have been saying this for ages, nobody expected phones without keyboards to do particularly well when it was released, and yet acording to Apple logic Samsung used their time machine so that they could travel forward in time to see that it would become popular and then travel back so that they could copy it with the F700?

            I am pretty sure Windows Mobile 6.5 had true multitasking (infact it was a major headaches as devices kept on running low on memory as a result of too many programmes running).

            "Removable storage? Why do you need it?" because it allows me to add 64GB of extra storage to my phone for a fraction of what the phone manufacturer would charge me for one? or the ability to remove the card which has all your photos, music, save files, backups etc when the phone dies on you maybe?

            "Hey, I'm pretty sure you've replaced your fandroid box every 6 months because the plastic shattered or it's too slow with the new OS upgrade" I am pretty sure plastic will outlast glass in the shatter department everytime. Not that it matters since every iphone user has to stick their bit of shiny in a rubber/leather/ plastic case to protect it, essentially turning it into one of the bulkiest phones on the market.

            "home screen widgets." - Most pointless feature on mobile OSes" you clearly haven't used it properly then. Having a summary of my next few appointments shown in the calendar widget is very useful as well as the current mp3 track playing in the music player widget. In fact MS based their whole design principle of Windows Phone OS on having instant visual information on the homescreen.

            1. tony

              Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

              ""Removable storage? Why do you need it?" because it allows me to add 64GB of extra storage to my phone for a fraction of what the phone manufacturer would charge me for one? or the ability to remove the card which has all your photos, music, save files, backups etc when the phone dies on you maybe?"

              Can't you just send it to a network resource via wi-fi?

              1. Infernoz Bronze badge
                Facepalm

                Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

                Do you realise just how long it takes to transfer Gigabytes of data?

                It's bad enough on wired Gigabit Ethernet to a NAS!

                It's even slower if there is more than one WiFi transfer in progress!

                A micro-SD card can be inserted/removed in seconds, and often read/written much faster in a PC USB adapter than in many mobile devices. You can even carry several micro-SD cards, so no transfer at all is necessary!

                All portable manufacturers overcharge for memory step ups, often 150% to 200%+ the price of a comparable micro-SD card.

                1. tony

                  Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

                  > Do you realise just how long it takes to transfer Gigabytes of data?

                  I can backup my s3 fairly quickly, quick enough that it "just works" to paraphrase somebody?

                  And probably quicker than I could get a memory card from the firesafe but i've not benchmarked it.

                  And even with the 200% markup you're not exactly talking thousands, Even the fruity one charges around £4 a gb (or £200 for 48gb).

                  I did the portable media thing a for several years, bored of it.

              2. Stoneshop
                FAIL

                Can't you just send it to a network resource via wi-fi?

                Your phone has just died. Now what?

              3. RiCHeeGee
                WTF?

                Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

                Not if the device is already bricked or maybe you missed the point of the statement? The ability to have mulitple cards in the event that you have a large music/photo/video collection? Consumer choice and convenience? Though the latter points aren't particularly applicable to Apple...

                Ultimately Apple win (sales) on the grounds that they sell on consumer ignorance and fashion, that's no different to most successful companies - shame on the ignorant consumer I suppose but the Reg isn't really a playing ground for the majority in that respect ;)

            2. cmaurand
              Linux

              Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

              The Palm Pre had multi-tasking and copy and paste (which iPhone/Pod/Pad didn't have as do all versions of Android.

          2. Michael Habel
            FAIL

            Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

            Memory should be built into the Phone in the first place...

            What the heck is wrong in wanting to have access to more memory?

            And BTW I love the Widgets on my Galaxy S1 thank you.

          3. Chet Mannly

            Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

            ""- iOS still doesn't support any home screen widgets." - Most pointless feature on mobile OSes."

            The most useful feature on a phone - you really wanna poke around individual apps just to see the weather, exchange rates, your calendar? Your productivity must be zero...

            "- Even the current iPhone doesn't offer many features common on many other smartphones - 4G, NFC, removable storage." - 4G? Questionable really. Outside US is a mess as most countries are slow at adopting the standard."

            Give it a rest - even Australia (where I'm from) has national 4G coverage. If 4G is such a mess then why release a 4G ipad fanboi???

            "Removable storage? Why do you need it?"

            So you don't have to pay Apple $250 for 64gb of memory, when a microsd costs $65?

            "Hey, I'm pretty sure you've replaced your fandroid box every 6 months"

            5 years using Android, on my second phone (the first died because it fell out the window of a moving car...).

            Plus I notice stacks of iphones with cracked screens and shattered backs...

          4. Steve Lee

            Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

            @NPCO543

            "- iOS lacked multitasking until version 4" - Okay, that was a major grumble until Apple realised that closing down apps on exit wasn't a good idea. No phone OS has native multitasking. "

            You are talking nonsense. Symbian has full pre-emptive multitasking - is did its predecessor Psion's EPOC which was happily multitasking (and multi-threading) away in your palm back in 1987 when Apple had only just released primitive co-operative task switching on its desktop OS! Even then it was a kludge - multitasking wasn't fully implemented until System 8 in 1997!

          5. Obvious Robert
            FAIL

            Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

            @the-it-slayer

            http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_syndrome

          6. cmaurand
            Linux

            Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

            Palm Pre and the iOS tablet had NFC before anyone.

        2. Colin Millar

          Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

          Couldn't agree more with you about apple's methodology - they don't compete on features or innovation - but effective marketing of an inferior product - it may not be competition based on objective truth and knowledge as envisaged in classic economic models but these models haven't ever really applied in the real world. The "perfect knowledge" model is just an academic exercise to allow some neat graphs to be drawn.

          It is however classic competition of the Bernays model which is where most competing has taken place from the second half of C20 onwards. People buy what they are told to buy and competition is all about telling them to buy your stuff more effectively than the other guy.

        3. dssf
          Mushroom

          Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

          Did i not predict this a week or so ago?

          Judge Koh should be disbarred for letting this shit reach this far. The very points you list should ALWAYS have been part of the instructions and notes to the jury. The jury obvioulsly is a combination of corrupt and inept.

          So, to apple, SCREW YOU! Screw you, apple! Screw you and your dirtbag lawyers through and through. Time for me to buy a Galaxy Note 10.1, YOU SPENT, grainy, clumpy WANKERS! Now, i willl have given SAMSUNG $1,000 of my limited, unemployed dollars, partly to say SCREW YOU! APPLE. You are not INNOvating! You are ENERvating! Compete, don't litigate, you tossers.

          Cook's icon/anthem status is going to take a nose dive as he works himself into most hated rarity CEO once his cloyish campy fiendish adorers grow weary of friends fed up with apple playing Tech Slayer.

      2. Rentaguru

        Re: You are kidding right? Or maybe you meant to use the joke icon?

        Actually the prior art pre-dates post-genocide america ..... I had a look at Hadrian's wall over the summer and when it wasn't raining I remarked to the insignificant other on the remarkable design of the Roman forts - rectangles with rounded corners!!!!!

      3. Seele

        Re: Oh - and some baccy tin companies want their rounded edges back - innovative design my arse.

        There is prior art concerning handheld electronic devices with rounded edges to make it easier to carry around in a pocket - Many brands of calculator from the 1980's onwards, and the personal organizers that proliferated in the 1990's. Hell, even the Rosetta stone has rounded edges. I am utterly incredulous that anyone can claim to have re-invented the round edge, and to have the sole right to use it.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Oh - and some baccy tin companies want their rounded edges back - innovative design my arse.

          When it's actually all about rectangular things without round corners (Money)

    3. mhenriday
      Boffin

      It's called «competition by lawyer»,

      at which that Prince of Thieves, Steven Paul Jobs (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CW0DUg63lqU), excelled. Those interested in promoting innovation and user choice, however, would perhaps be better advised to take their cues from Johanna Blakley (http://www.ted.com/talks/johanna_blakley_lessons_from_fashion_s_free_culture.html)....

      Henri

  5. Ben Holmes
    WTF?

    I can't be the only one who, by this stage, is thinking 'oh just fuck off, Apple'.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Well based on previous statements at least one judge is also thinking that.

    2. Steve Renouf
      Thumb Up

      Correct...

      You're not alone!

  6. David Gosnell

    Bit late

    They'll probably be told off for being too late, should have mentioned it before, etc etc, then still get awarded several more squillions by California's fundamentally biased legal system. I really don't see such a great difference between all this and Israel's convenient decision that Rachel Corrie wasn't murdered by them - except that no-one can bring Rachel back, whereas the sane world could make some redress if need be.

  7. ISYS

    Apply this logic to cars

    If we apply Apple's logic to cars then everyone owes Mercedes Benz a lot of money for building motor cars with four wheels, a steering wheel, seats, an engine etc.

    1. Steve Todd
      FAIL

      Re: Apply this logic to cars

      Here we go again. Those ideas were all patented and are now public domain. Samsung can either wait for that to happen for Apple's patents or engineer their way around them like Google are. Are you trying to say that Samsung employs a bunch of incompetents who are unable to do this?

      1. scarshapedstar
        Thumb Down

        Re: Apply this logic to cars

        "engineer their way around them like Google are"

        Funny thing about that, Apple's suit was predicated upon Samsung using Google's OS, which steals patented innovative certainly-never-seen-before Apple features like "icons arranged in rows as opposed to a haphazard overlapping rabble".

        1. soldinio

          Re: Apply this logic to cars

          @ Scarshapedstar

          Not quite right. Samsung Touch-Wiz is violating the design patents by looking like iOS, not stock android.

          Mind you, if they were that bloody similar looking - why did it take me a couple of minutes to find the settings icon, and navigate to the correct menu when I first used an iPhone. Surely if they were similar enough to create confusion, I would have been able to do it instantly. Glad I live in the UK, where our court told Apple to stop messing about.

          1. scarshapedstar

            Re: Apply this logic to cars

            @soldinio

            "Not quite right. Samsung Touch-Wiz is violating the design patents by looking like iOS, not stock android."

            I dunno, when you look at Apple's complaints - 4x4 grid, squarish icons, tray at the bottom - they apply equally to stock Android. They're still baseless, mind you, because only grannies and promotional materials use such an uncustomized and widget-free setup...

        2. PGregg
          Mushroom

          Re: Apply this logic to cars

          > patented innovative certainly-never-seen-before Apple features like "icons arranged in rows as opposed to a haphazard overlapping rabble"

          You mean, like Windows Desktop ?

      2. Peter Storm

        Re: Apply this logic to cars

        There you go. See what happened there? All those thumbs down for stating actual facts.

        Please refrain from this as It's not what the rabid hysterical foaming at the mouth brigade want to read.

      3. eclairz

        Re: Apply this logic to cars

        Are you willing to wait ~20 years to compete for every patent? and what do you do with kids who made stuff and have no clue about patent law, all these laws are just to benefit lawyers at the end of the day, doesn't really promote improvement and research, good competition is the best way to improve evolution of anything.

        1. Infernoz Bronze badge

          Re: Apply this logic to cars

          Good point.

          There is also the much overlooked issue that technology is moving faster now, 10 years would be more sensible period for patents now and even 5 years or less, in some cases.

          Anyhow, most of these Apple patents should never have even been issued, the US patent office stop being lazy, do its job and search Prior Art, just like they should look for similar patents before approving any new patents.

      4. Anonymous Coward
        FAIL

        Re: Apply this logic to cars

        Except that in the US patent can be renewed and practically never become public domain. The US patent system is not designed to protect ideas, it's designed or has been hijacked as a tool to beat down the competition.

        1. Steve Todd
          FAIL

          @Bugs R Us - who told you that

          US patents most certainly CAN'T be renewed. They have a fixed term of 20 or 25 years (depending on the type of patent and when it was registered) and that's it. Many US drugs are out of patent to start with.

        2. Chemist

          "Except that in the US patent can be renewed"

          It can't !

          1. Tom 7

            Re: "Except that in the US patent can be renewed"

            No but you can put the same shit in a new patent and it will get passed on payment thank you very much.

            And if you choose the right judge you can have that confirmed in court too.

            1. Steve Todd
              FAIL

              @Tom 7 - my, the stupid was high in that post

              You don't just hand the patent office a filled in form that they rubber stamp. The FIRST thing they do is search the patent database to see if the same claims have already been filed. Re-filing your own expired patent would be both stupid beyond imagining and liable to get you arrested for perjury

      5. Tom 35

        Re: Apply this logic to cars

        Yes there were lots of patents for cars, with real blue prints and models.

        They didn't have Apple style crap patents like...

        Padded seats in a mobile device.

        1. Steve Todd
          FAIL

          @Tom 35

          You think cars aren't mobile devices? You also think modern ECU units aren't covered by large numbers of "Method to" patents? That makes them invalid?

      6. Chet Mannly

        Re: Apply this logic to cars

        "Re: Apply this logic to cars

        Here we go again. Those ideas were all patented and are now public domain"

        But they weren't when cars were first being made genius - there would have been only one manufacturer of cars ever if Apple logic is applied.

        Also as all current cars are based on designs from back then, they'd all be liable.

        Move along fanboi...

        1. Steve Todd
          FAIL

          @Chet Mannly

          Genius? That obviously is a statement that can't be applied to you.

          1) you can engineer your way around pretty well any patent. It requires though and innovation but it can be done.

          2) patents expire after a limited time. Even if Benz held all the patents for cars the best he would have had was a 25 year head start on the market. As it was he charged a fairly hefty fee to other manufacturers to use his patents (and yes, Benz DID have patents on his car) and the motor industry seems pretty competitive today (even though there is lots of patented technology in almost any car you care to mention).

      7. dssf

        Re: Apply this logic to cars no... no... apply it to...

        Hair dryers

        Toothbrushes

        Candleholders

        Haier, panasonic, fujitsu, samsung, lg, and other standup air con units

        Asian style washer and dryer combo units

        Security video panels by the door

        Nonspill coffee mugs

        Electric tooth brushes

        ?.... Okay, downthumber, do you get it? Apple mostly cobbled together a lot of tech and stylized some nice things. But, they are reaching too far. If they are not curtailed, where will it end, when there are no more mobile phone makers and no more android? Maybe Samsung or others should patent the Star Trek comm badge despite the non patentability, just to lock apple out.

    2. Voland's right hand Silver badge
      Devil

      Re: Apply this logic to cars

      ANY modern car pays price tag contains significant amount of IPR royalties either direct or indirect (through royalties on component pricing).

      The difference there is that an engineer which has designed something _WITHPOUT_ doing FTO (freedom to operate) and PLA (patent landscape analysis) first is walked off the premises by security straight away with his belongings in a bag.

      1. Michael H.F. Wilkinson Silver badge
        Go

        Hmm, popcorn

        I'll have another carton

      2. Alan Brown Silver badge

        Re: Apply this logic to cars

        I think you'll find his belongings will be shipped to him later.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    >Apple's second suit could give Samsung a very unhappy Christmas

    Likely the case, though Samsung can take some comfort watching Sharp go to the wall as they try to pick up the baton on Retina Displays......there but for the grace of Jobs....

    1. g e

      Apple might have handed Xmas to Samsung early

      If Sammy get going now with a 'Buy one before it's banned' campaign then apple might just find that they're not selling ithings because everyone bought an S3 early. Think about how many banned singles used to get to #1 in the charts.

      After all, apple's noisesome tactics are usually a great indicator of what you should consider buying, they've given Sammy so much free marketing already.

      1. MacroRodent
        Mushroom

        Re: Apple might have handed Xmas to Samsung early

        'Buy one before it's banned'

        Wonder if Apple would then go after the buyers for using its patented technology illegally? On the other hand, even if they theoretically could, that would be so monumentally bad PR that it might give even Apple lawyers a pause.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Apple might have handed Xmas to Samsung early

          Well Apple, with no legal grounds, already contacted all the retailers and networks telling them to take the other Samsung models of the shelves due to a temporary injunction, so it wouldn't surprise me.

          Why would Apple need to work within the law when they can easily just work outside it?

      2. RainForestGuppy

        Re: Apple might have handed Xmas to Samsung early

        The next step from Apple will be to try to legistate to get all Samsung products blocked by the telco's

        1. g e
          Joke

          Re: Apple might have handed Xmas to Samsung early

          Maybe they could just redefine 'Christmas'

          Priest: Our saviour Steve, who died for our sins, and his Living Disciple Tim who both did verily beget all things inventionable upon the face of the World... Let him who denieth the innovation be put to the Holy Sword of Apple and not be suffered to pursue business further. So let it be written, so let it be done.

          Congregation: Amen Apple

          And so forth

          1. Doogie1

            Re: Apple might have handed Xmas to Samsung early

            "If Sammy get going now with a 'Buy one before it's banned' campaign "

            Surely that would be an admission of guilt!

      3. Chet Mannly

        Re: Apple might have handed Xmas to Samsung early

        "'Buy one before it's banned' campaign"

        Or do what Samsung did in Australia - release a version tweaked to get around the legal ban, then take out full page ads in every newspaper announcing it as "the Tablet Apple didn't want you to see".

  9. c2423

    I wonder...

    I wonder if this drives up demand for the S3? I'd certainly been waiting before upgrading but if there's a chance of it not being available in future I might just decide to buy sooner rather than later.

    Incidentally, I thought it seemed like a smart move to release the S3 ahead of the new iPhone to avoid at least some of the cries of "it's an exact copy"

  10. TeeCee Gold badge
    Facepalm

    Galaxy Note?

    Hang on, that thing's got a 5" screen and a stylus hasn't it? Surely, using Apple's own logic, that makes it hugely innovative and a completely novel and different device?

    Next week: Apple patent winning on both the swings and the roundabouts, while eating cake that you still have.

    1. Absent
      Trollface

      Re: Galaxy Note?

      It's a direct copy of the Newton damn it!

      1. Martin?

        Re: Galaxy Note?

        "Re: Galaxy Note? It's a direct copy of the Newton damn it!"

        Nope, according to the Jury, if it won;t run the same software as the latter model then it cannot be considered prior art.

    2. Mark .

      Re: Galaxy Note?

      And if rumourware of 4" Iphones and Ipad Minis turn out to be true, shouldn't the existing producers of those kinds of devices be able to ban Apple devices?

    3. Tom 11

      Re: Galaxy Note?

      That, and it's an amazing bit of kit, innovative, unique and useful. Sat here looking at mine and my mates 4s and the only bone of contention Apple could ever hold against the Note is that it is superior in every possible way to the iPhone, whilst having not a single iota of similarity between them.

      Piss off Apple, you’re like the weedy little spoilt kid from school, always crying to the teachers expecting instant vindication of your actions. Soon no one will like you, and you’ll have no one to cry too.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Galaxy Note?

        'cept it makes you look like some comedy character when you use it - unless you are king kong.

        Glad you FINALLY got ICS by the way. You will be wanting the new version soon when Samsung drop support for it.

        1. ZeroP
          FAIL

          @ AC 15:37GMT Re: Galaxy Note?

          http://www.xda-developers.com/

          http://innovator.samsungmobile.com/cms/cnts/knowledge.detail.view.do?platformId=1&cntsId=11924&nacode=uk

          Game. Set. Match.

        2. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Galaxy Note?

          Oh, is tiny hands boy back again? :)

  11. Steen Larsen
    Paris Hilton

    Appe is scared

    Most of my non-techy iPhone wearing friends have recently turned up with a white Samsung Galaxy SIII. I can understand if apple is very scared!

    If you can patent rectagles with round corners I wonder if Samsung has managed to patent phones with screens that are bigger than 4 inches ;-) - Just because of size there is no way you can mistake a new Samsug phone for an iPhone.

    Paris - because it is all about size!

    1. Steve Evans

      Re: Appe is scared

      I suspect you might be right.

      I've seen a lot of S3's in the wild recently. The iphone has become a bit common. So when someone is sitting on the train with a non-iphone and a screen the size of the S3's, you can't not notice it, and many seem to do just that.

      Non techies seem to be turning up with them, including a 22 yo girl I was chatting to the other day (calm down, she was a friend of a friend). She'd had blackberries, iphone and now the S3. She waxed lyrical about it (I think she likes it).

      I think I might have to have one myself too... Although being in the UK, where judges have recently shown an unexpected dose of common sense, I don't think there is an immediate rush.

      1. Maliciously Crafted Packet

        Appe* -who ever he is- might be scared but I don't think Apple are

        Sure Apple are pissed off with all the counterfeit devices from Samsung and the like. But scared, I don't think so.

        For a start no enterprise is going to use Android as its essentially a user profiling tool to feed Google's ad business. Remember, if somethings being given away free -IE. Android- You are not the customer. You are the product being sold.

        On top of that, Android's un-curated app store allows all manor of key logging and location tracking horrors to be installed. The risk of confidential data leaks on the platform are just too high.

        From a consumer perspective Samsung and Android in general are seen as copycats and imitators who lack in innovation. This is not a good position to be in as SamDroid can only follow Apple, they can never lead and will always be considered passé.

        What would scare Apple is if this changed and Samsung/Google started actually innovating and developing there own unique take on the mobile UI instead of aping iOS. Samsung losing the court case last week is probably the best thing that happen to them, they just don't realise this yet.

        ---

        *I wish the reg let you correct your own comments, I make cock-ups like this all the time.

        1. Steve Evans

          Re: Appe* -who ever he is- might be scared but I don't think Apple are

          Oh do take off the rose tinted specs.

          Innovation has always relied on taking an existing idea and improving it. Vague patents are just a stupid recent idea permitted by a government which is bankrolled and pushed along by big business.

          The only reason consumer might thing Samsung are copy cats is because of the almighty fuss and tantrum Apple has been kicking up. To be honest most don't give a sh*t.

          If you really want to talk about mobile innovation you need to talk about Motorola (who invented it) and Nokia who then picked up the idea and ran with it. All their patents, which have real innovative technical content, are covered by FRAND, so they have to be licensed at a reasonable rate because you can't make a mobile phone without them.

          Apple come along and patent rounded corners and menus that "bounce" when you hit the end... Hardly ground breaking stuff. All Apple did was make is a tarty UI that looked pretty. Underneath all that there is nothing special. Hell, the Iphone1 could barely call itself a GSM phone because its implementation of the standards was so lax (group messages and MMS for example).

          As for "profiling" by google, at least Android pops up a box warning you, and asks if you want to share data with google, which you can decline... Haven't seen much of that from Apple, and given the closed nature of the Apple world, you'll be hard pushed to inspect the source to find out what is actually going on.

          Android is open, you can inspect it, and if you don't like it, you can change it!

          If you want security from 3rd party apps, remove the play store from the phone. Easy. This is exactly what Amazon did, and replaced it with their own instead.

  12. Nathe
    Thumb Down

    From now on, I'll avoid Apple on principle.

    I have an iPhone 4, iPad 1st gen, Macbook pro and a Samsung Galaxy Note (which is my main cellphone).

    I like Apple devices a lot, but this is making me want to avoid future purchases of Apple purely on principle, as I feel their crusade to kill any competition with vague patents will damage the whole tech market and stifle future innovation/competition for consumers.

    Not cool Apple. Not cool.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: From now on, I'll avoid Apple on principle.

      That's cutting off your nose to spite your face - the jury found Samsung to be wrong - but maybe you were listening to the evidence so know better?

      1. Steve Evans

        Re: From now on, I'll avoid Apple on principle.

        It's only cutting off your nose to spite..... if you end up with settling for an inferior product.

        From what I've seen of the G3 (and Jelly Bean on a similarly well spec'ed device like my Nexus 7) it is not inferior by any means.

  13. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So how is the SIII infringing apples patents?

    I used to have some respect for apple but the more I read and hear about them the more I hate them. I even once thought about buying a mac book pro. there are even making Microsoft look good and that’s hard.

    1. Absent
      Holmes

      It's the things like slide to unlock and pinch to zoom, people see those features and quite rightly mistake the phone for an iPhone.

      1. JediHomer

        ... but aren't these Android issues and therefore not just Samsung?

        1. Absent
          WTF?

          That was meant in a sarcastic way.

          1. Mark .

            Sorry for modding you down - I think Poe's Law applies here, it's impossible to tell parody from actual arguments that Apple fanatics make :)

            1. Anonymous Coward
              Anonymous Coward

              @mark

              You know you can change your mod, right? You just need to mod him up and your vote will be counted as a up instead of a down...

              1. cyborg
                Gimp

                Re: @mark

                I have marked him up to restore balance to the force.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    iPhone 5 will be great

    iPhone 5 will be soo good and better than Samsung's offerings, that's why Apple don't have to sue them.

    1. g e
      Facepalm

      Re: iPhone 5 will be great

      So presumably they know it will be poop which is why they are suing

  15. Gareth 16
    Megaphone

    Ridiculous...

    Even if I was in the market for a phone at the moment and Samsung phones were unavailabe to to being banned I would just gravitate towards HTC or other high end Android devices.

    It becomes a joke when Apple need to ban competition, banning something that apparently looks the same doesn't mean i'm going to default to an iPhone. Christ, they are completely different operating systems...im beginning to lose faith in humanity here.

    1. Dr. Mouse

      Re: Ridiculous...

      You had faith in humanity? Really!?

  16. Steven Roper
    Mushroom

    Hey terrorists!

    Want to win worldwide support for your holy cause?

    Would some kind-hearted terrorist please do the world a real favour and just let one of Russia's missing nukes off in Cupertino already?

    If you have something along the lines of the Tsar Bomba that'd be fantastic, ta. Failing that, one of North Korea's spare dirty bombs should do the trick nicely. Pull that one off and I'll kneel at the feet of Kim Jong-Il's statue my bloody self!

    1. auburnman
      Mushroom

      Re: Hey terrorists!

      Nuke it yourself. Tsar seems a bit collateral-damagey.

  17. b166er
    Facepalm

    Whenever life gets you down, Mrs Brown, and things seem hard and tough...

    And people are stupid, obnoxious, or daft

    And you feel that you've had quite enough....

    Just remember that you're not standing in the USofApple

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is what we can call

    A rotten Apple.

    Quoting from Groklaw:

    [quote] “Slide to Unlock,” “Text Correction,” “Unified Search,” and “Special Text Detection.” In other words, four toxic software patents. Yes, Apple claims to own that functionality as its very own, because it's such a great innovator. Who else could think up text correction? [/quote]

    I guess it's time the US courts of justice should tell Apple to shove off. Oh, and patent trolls and lawyers should be worried by Apple spoiling the game for the rest of them because somebody will soon start noticing this nonsense.

    1. Tom 11

      Re: This is what we can call

      You're kidding me right? That type of IP was knocking about and being freely used on most handsets some 3 or 4 years before the original iPhone hit the shelves, where do these chumps get off?

    2. Dave 15

      Re: This is what we can call

      mmm text correction, never had that in 1999 on my old Sony phone... or did I?

      Unified search - never seen that - oh, sorry, no, I think I seem to have vague recollections of doing that on my PC when I first started.

      Special text detection? I think that was the habit of the old Philips pagers....

      Slide to unlock, well I suppose that transferring the physical slider button to a virtual slider button on the screen might be unique and patentable, but then as people had various virtual buttons for all sorts of things I find it a tad difficult to believe that this was unique, and certainly a lot harder to believe it is in someway non-obvious. But then again I suppose I'm not a Californian being told my taxes and unemployment will shoot up if my fellow Californian company doesn't win its case.

  19. Shaun 2

    https://i.chzbgr.com/completestore/12/8/29/KQm9JEwIg0mYdE9TV8RfgQ2.jpg

  20. Justin 9
    WTF?

    Yawwwnnnnn

    Is it just me or does this whole Apple asking for competitor devices removed from the shelf seem so boring.

    Makes that iPhone 5 look unattractive now.

    Love my Samsung Nexus though, always use it over my Work provided iPhone 4.

  21. Jim Carter
    Facepalm

    I have a Note.

    And I love it. Even my technophobe mother can tell the difference between a Note and an iPhone. I was considering an iPhone for her mainly due to ease of use.

    Not any more.

    1. Justin 9
      Happy

      Re: I have a Note.

      I have to agree that the iPhone interface is nice. The new ICS and JB are nice too.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: I have a Note.

        "I have to agree that the iPhone interface is nice".....lovely to see 80's wall paper designs all over again.

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Gah

    I love my iPad, it's a great device and works well, but fuck me vigorously without buying me dinner, I feel a little ashamed for owning it now, given that it's funding this sort of thing. My only consolation is that the the bigger they are, the harder they fall- Microsoft used to be able to get away with this sort of thing too, but it's a bit of a comedy also-ran these days.

    (On the other hand, I find I almost flourish when fishing my S3 out of my pocket to take a call now...)

  23. Daniel Harris 1

    Is it just me...or do other people think the S3 looks absolutely nothing like an iPhone....

    It's about twice as big for starters!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      no just you...

      Very cynical / clever or Apple to not include it in the recent case. If they had, all th epublicity would have centered on them attempting to ban the S3, and every photo attached to all the press stories would have the two of them side by side, and everyone would have said "They look nothing like each other".

      How they can then attempt to get it banned now, is beyond me.

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Is it just me..."

      Nope, I just went and compared my S3 (large, thin) to a colleague's iPhone 4s, which is stubby and looks entirely different. You'd have to be a little... special to confuse them.

      1. g e

        Re: "Is it just me..."

        Perhaps it's because the ithing5 will look like an S3 that they're laying the groundwork to try banning the S3.

        Interesting that they want to 'deal' with Google, though. Is that because they want to go to court saying 'Awww but we TRIED to talk to Google but they wouldn't accept our offer of 'fuck all' for the patents'. Or, they can see they'll take a massive kicking in court cos someone finally has them bang to rights for blatant and willful abuse of Moto's IP.

      2. Mark .

        Re: "Is it just me..."

        Indeed. OTOH these days I find myself confusing small Apple phones for those old 2005-era feature phones - as well as the similar size, they both had the same grid of icons...

  24. magickmark
    Thumb Down

    Bully Boys

    Apple are running scared and being bully boys. Considreing their past history for stealing idea's I find this all very very very... silly.

  25. eJ2095

    Xerox should sue apple

    And y not lol

  26. DEAD4EVER
    WTF?

    banning Samsung in us

    OK so clearly apple is targeting every top selling Samsung phone on there market galaxy s1 s2 s3 nexus er tablets etc. and all cause apple has lost market share in the EU how pathetic is that just cause apple couldn't stop them in EU. I think what apple is wanting to do is ban all top selling phones in the USA so Americans have apple only products. and how dare apple say that the s3 infringes its patents it doesn't even look like a iPhone for gods sakes even I can tell the difference between an apple and a Samsung and I know which one id choose and it wouldn't be a apple. never liked apples from the start and all the problems people have with them its no surprising I don't think I have any apple products my mother has a nano but she never uses it the reason why is cause she wanted a mp3 type player that she could put all her songs on and play in the car guess what apples nano you couldn't do that and the simple reason is that don't work in the car unless you buy a special adapter how pathetic. stuff apple and there patents least my mothers Sony mp3 player works in the car eh.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: banning Samsung in us

      Good grief. Please stop posting your "thoughts", you're giving folks headaches.

      ("..this one time at band camp...")

    2. Steven Roper
      Facepalm

      Re: banning Samsung in us

      And that post, ladies and gentlemen, is why we can thank whatever deities we do or do not believe in, that we are not telepaths.

  27. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    This is bullshit

    Can't google get the iPhone 5 banned already - has anyone seen the "new" shiny features in it - they're ALL derivatives from android!

    Shirley this is what the competition commission should be involved in - protectionism, raceteering, stopping any levels of competition.

    I used to own an iPod/ iMac/ G4 Cube/iPhone - apple used to be the quirky underdog. They're just vermin now. Even microsoft weren't this bad!

    1. Tom 11
      Trollface

      Re: This is bullshit

      No, they used to manage to market themselves as 'the quirky underdog' to suckers like you who fell for that shit the first time around...

  28. RainForestGuppy
    Angel

    Memo from the desk Tim Cook

    Patent No. 87e7387827 - Creation of everything

    Method

    1. Create light

    2. Create Sky

    3. Create Earth

    4. Create moon, sun and stars

    5. Fill seas with fish

    6. Populate land

    7. Rest

    Get this down the Patent office and then sue everybody and everything for daring to exist in the Apple Universe

    1. Richard 81

      Re: Memo from the desk Tim Cook

      That made me think of this quote from guess who:

      "...when the Editors of the Guide were sued by the families of those who had died as a result of taking the entry on the planet Tralal literally (it said "Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts often make a very good meal for visiting tourists: instead of "Ravenous Bugblatter Beasts often make a very good meal of visiting tourists"), they claimed that the first version of the sentence was the more aesthetically pleasing, summoned a qualified poet to testify under oath that beauty was truth, truth beauty and hoped thereby to prove that the guilty party in this case was Life itself for failing to be either beautiful or true. The judges concurred, and in a moving speech held that Life itself was in contempt of court, and duly confiscated it from all those there present before going off to enjoy a pleasant evening's ultragolf.”

  29. P_0

    Apple are pathetic. This lawsuit actually just goes to show that they can't *innovate* (I'm really starting to hate that word now) and they know they can't.

    They have had two mildly original products in the past 5 or 6 years. Original iPhone and the original iPad. In fact the iPad doesn't really have many original features, it's only by the brute strength of Apple's advertising arm, plus media salivating that got them shipped. First time my boss came into the office with the iPad, lovely leather cover, wrapped under her arm, everybody swooned. Three hours later, "Uh, so what are you going to use it for?"

    "You can send me messages when I'm out of the office, and I can read presentation slides."

    "Oh. Okay".

    Waste of money (of course same can be said for most tablets, but at least Samsung and others are trying to find some use, with devices like the Galaxy Note).

    Hopefully the iPhone 5 will be crushed by the weight of consumer disappointment when people realize it has the same functionality as most Android phones had about a year ago. And hopefully Samsung will sue them to hell for infringing 3G/4G networking patents. An eye for an eye.

    Yeah that made me sound like a grumpy, bitter, twisted individual, but Apple are really starting to take the piss now. The days of Microsoft's tyrannical hegemony seem almost like a golden age. Can't Apple just go back to their place as a designer for

    (a) people with more money than sense

    (b) people who think logos are important

    1. EvilGav 1

      Same thing happened with 2G FRAND patents, Apple refused to pay the FRAND fee *every* other mobile company in the world was paying and claimed they should get a special discount - no reason, just that's what they thought they should get.

      That's what happens when you're the last technology company in the world to start making phones - everyone else has masses of IP that is essential to phones and lots involved in FRANDS that the old players don't really pay that much to each other - the FRAND licences all balance out. Apple clearly didn't like the idea of paying out money and threw a strop for a number of years before finally paying up.

      Since 3G and 4G are in the same boat, pretty much the same is going to happen.

    2. Mark .

      I agree entirely. It's also interesting to note how the vast amount of media Ipad hype started *before* it was even *announced* (remember the iStale, sorry iSlate?), let along after it was shipped. So this wasn't about the media reacting to a product, it was giving Apple massive free advertising and support from the outset. It's sad that even 2.5 years on, other tablets have been virtually ignored, with the exception of the recent Nexus 7 (and even then, every media coverage of that had to have the obligatory Ipad mention).

      Another factor is shops - I note that loads of shops round here have Ipads, it's rare to see any other kind of tablets. People don't go into the shop and choose Apple over a range of tablets. They hear about "Ipads", go into the shop to get "an Ipad", and don't see or hear about anything else.

      The media tried to do the same thing with the original Iphone, which for 5 and a half years since its announcement has got constant media hype - thankfully I think the fact that phones/smartphones were already well established, as well as with established distribution through the networks, meant Apple had less of an unfair advantage, and they failed in their attempt to outdo the leading companies like Nokia and Samsung (who are still the top two), or the leading platforms (which was Symbian until 2011, then Android). Though sadly, the media seem to have convinced many people that Apple lead, anyway.

      1. P_0

        One part of Apple's thinking, I believe, is that they can't in the long run compete against Android, and will be pushed into the niche market from whence they came. My thinking is, although the Apple App Store (TM, all rights reserved, ©) and the Google Play store have a comparable number of apps (and yes, in general the App Store has better quality apps), the force of so many manufacturers making Android devices, now phones and tablets, but eventually toasters, lawnmowers and coffee mugs, Apple cannot compete.

        They bring out a new product once every couple of years or so (I mean a really new product, not just a laptop with thinner screen and extra RAM). With a plethora of Android manufacturers which will be putting Android in all kinds of things in the coming years, Apple will need a great strategy to hold on to their crown (arguably already slipping away to Samsung in some markets.)

        And it seems the strategic thinking is sue, sue, sue! But it can only work for so long. Samsung aren't going to disappear. These lawsuits are going to drag on. And manufacturers need some OS to work with. It's either Android, or WinPhone. And with Android being shoved into more and more whacky devices (the usefulness of doing this aside), is the media going to really care in 2015 Apple unveils the iPhone 7, with sleeker corners and new connectors, when Android will be stuffed into microsatellites and blasted into orbit, for example.

        Afterall Apple is only one company and the only company selling iOS products. Being perfectionists has its drawbacks because in the long run you fall behind. Like the kid in school who wrote perfect joined up writing, but was slow as hell and was still finishing his weekend report when everyone else was on the playground. Yeah, you get some really crappy Android hardware, and software, but in the long run the momentum of development pushes the bar higher.

        As a side note: I am not a fandroid. Just wanted to clear that up. I think iOS is a great platform, iPhone 4S is a decent phone, Objective-C is a mess, but two out of three isn't bad.

        1. Mark .

          I agree, but just to nitpick, which crown is it that Apple currently has? I believe latest market share figures are Android approaching 70% and increasing, Iphone around 16% and falling. Similarly:

          "arguably already slipping away to Samsung in some markets"

          Samsung alone now at around 2x Iphone sales, just on their smartphones. In fact, it's now at the stage where even one single model (the S3) is outselling the one single model of Iphone (where Apple only have one single model per generation, unlike Samsung, or the hundreds of Android devices) in some markets.

          So yes, you're not only right with your prediction of Android dominance, but we're already long here. :) (And before that, it was Nokia/Symbian, not Apple...)

  30. Slx

    Next up - English speakers!

    I wonder will Apple now go after fruit growers, marketers and supermarkets for their continuous abuse of this noble computer company's totally original name.

    Then maybe go after the world's English-speaking population for using the word in reference to that common tasty fruit that grows on trees.

    1. Justin 9
      Mushroom

      Re: Next up - English speakers!

      Close but no cigar

      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/6332319.stm

  31. richard 7

    erm...

    "Rather than innovate and develop its own technology and a unique Samsung style for its smart phone and tablet computer products"

    Like Apple Invented (or claimes to)

    Li-On battery Technology

    Video Conferencing on Mobiles

    Internet Browsing on Mobiles

    Listening to Music on Mobiles

    No one EVER did any of that before Apple said they did. The companies that Apple is picking on are generally innovators and have given us some major new technology. Apple have just subtley copied and reengineered existing technologies and then patented them, actual innovation there stopped years ago when they decided it was just easier to ride the PC wave than innovate. Lets not forget that the whole business is built on what came out of PARC and even then there were beaten to the market.

    Apple make things pretty, thats about it. Samsung could have tried harder but Apple are aiming for 'if its a smartphone its our patent' which I think is unfair. You shouldnt be able to file patents as a weapon even ignoring software, process, biological and look and feel.

  32. jonathan keith
    Mushroom

    The only way to be sure...

    Can't we just nuke Apple from orbit?

    1. Big_Ted
      Devil

      Re: The only way to be sure...

      No the satellite is using Apples mapping tech rather than Googles so only works with an iDevice when prodded with a finger.

      1. fch
        Thumb Down

        Re: The only way to be sure...

        whenever someone comes up with this "prodded with a finger [ from orbit ]" thing, the image of the opening scene for "The last remake of Beau Geste" is conjured up with my mind. Is it just me ?

        (Icon for obvious reasons, at least once you've seen the scene ... not downvoting anything here)

    2. Maliciously Crafted Packet

      Re: The only way to be sure...

      Nuke em from orbit? From memory I don't think that plan worked out very well.

      The scene is probably not that dissimilar to the situation as Samsung HQ after last weeks verdict.

  33. Tim Worstal

    Really?

    "Apple's second suit could give Samsung a very unhappy Christmas"

    I think I saw somewhere that this is the case due for trial in spring 2014......

  34. mickey mouse the fith

    I might be wrong, but....

    Didnt Apple make a deal with Apple Records not to go into the music business to keep the Apple logo/name a while ago, then erm.... become one of the biggest players in the music biz?

    Shows how much they respect the rights of others.

    As for this, I think they realise that they are somewhat saddled with a boring, clunky os they cant change that much without alienating their numpty core market, whereas Android is rapidly evolving into something quite inovative and special.

    Jellybean really does piss on ios from a great height in both look and functionality.

    In short, as others have said, Apple are running scared and resorting to this pathetic patent nonsense to force their competetors out of the market, rather than taking a gamble and inovating themselves.

    My guess is the only major thing changed in the next iphone will be screensize (big whoop!!)

    1. Mark Wilson

      Re: I might be wrong, but....

      Totally agree about the user interface being dated and restrictive. Apple are clearly struggling to develop new features for it (Siri was brought, not Apple's idea).

      My wife just brought a Nokia Lumia 710 which cost about a third of the price and whilst Windows Phone is far from mature, it clearly shows that there is room for it to be a far better OS than iOS, which bugs me cause I have an Iphone 4.

      Apple are clearly scared because they see iOS becoming another WP6*, the OS nobody loves then loosing their "cool" and let's face it without the iPhone/iPad nobody will be buying Apple products.

      Or did I dream about having a smart phone before the iPhone came along, I guess I must have done because Apple invented it.

  35. Crisp

    Rather than innovate and develop its own technology

    Apple have decided to rehash the same tired lawsuit again.

    1. Richard 120
      Thumb Up

      Rather than innovate and develop a new lawsuit

      Apple have decided to rehash the same tired lawsuit again, with just the model numbers being changed.

      Fuck, their legal business model is EXACTLY THE SAME as their technology business model.

  36. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    so....

    So this way is it the Apply sympathising Judge that would ban the additional devices, or does it have to go back to Jury?

    If its the judge, then it seems that this was always the intention as the only route they'd be able to get the latest and least infringing devices banned.

    Maybe Apples new moto should be "Apple, rotten to the core"?

  37. Glostermeteor

    Apple needs to grow up and starting teching up rather than lawyering up, already most of the latest Samsung, Asus and Acer phones and tabets are lightyears ahead of the iPhone and iPad. Apple lost in every single court outside the US so this is obviously about an American court trying to protect American jobs and money, nothing more. Apple needs to realise that innovation does not just involve taking someone elses foundation and building on top of it, innovation also involves building something thats new, and all the things they are trying to sue with existed before the iPhone and iPad existed, therefore they are complete hypocrits.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I don't think it's about protecting American jobs. I mean, iPhones are made more or less in the same factories, by the same Chinese kids who make hardware for most other devices. No American jobs are really at stake here.

      I believe the previous lawsuit went the way it did because:

      (a) Patent law is confusing and boring and the jury did not have a clue.

      (b) A lot of the arguments were technical, and some of the jury didn't have a clue.

      (c) The jury would almost certainly have a psychological bias to side with Apple. Samsung are a foreign company, and Apple are gods in California.

      (d) The jury wanted to go home for the weekend.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Agree with all of that! (except my Galaxy SII for one is made in Korea, not China).

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      You say that if you invented / innovated anything and someone else just came along and flagrantly copied it. People 'get' it with other things but not phones / iPads etc.

      I know I'll setup Diison and start making vacuum cleaners that have all this new technology - never mind Dyson spend bucket loads developing it - why bother it's far easier to copy. Oh and those pharmaceutical - never mind the hundreds of millions spent, years of trials etc. - just copy them - no problem.

      The fact is tech people think the world should be all open-source and everything free - but in the real world or dare I say if it were your product you should get all the protection afforded you by law / patents.

      1. P_0

        "I know I'll setup Diison and start making vacuum cleaners that have all this new technology - never mind Dyson spend bucket loads developing it - why bother it's far easier to copy. Oh and those pharmaceutical - never mind the hundreds of millions spent, years of trials etc. - just copy them - no problem."

        Yeah, to carry your analogy further, Dyson have patented the backwards/forwards motion of the vacuum, and also the side to side motion. The only option for Diison, and other manufacturers is to only allow users to pivot, lift the vacuum cleaner to the next spot and pivot again.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Facepalm

          You will have to invent wheels and rollers with square corners too, using wheels and rollers with round or curving surfaces are a no-no...

          Also, you will have to invent a way to using power other than from the mains via a plug, since that is a no-no....

          Also, you will have to come up with a way to interface with this device, because using your hands to control it, well....yes you guessed it....that is a no-no too......

          Also, a...fuck it I can't be arsed......

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      "Apple needs to grow up and starting teching up rather than lawyering up"

      What to have Samsung or others just copy it a few months later. You spend millions in R&D then have someone come alone and copy it in a matter of months and see how you like it. I'm not expecting this to be popular but I'm with Apple on this one.

  38. Dropper

    Forget Phones

    Worry about yourself. Apple clearly invented both feet and breathing and your flagrant use of both without agreeing a royalty based compensation plan is a nothing but an insult to innovators everywhere.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Forget Phones

      if apple were actually about royalties then I dont think it would be so bad.

      However, their intentions are clearly to limit competition with them very rarely (never?) seeming to be agreeing royalty terms and instead being purely interested in the ban.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Forget Phones

        Samsung were offered to pay the royalties - they chose not to... so it 'is' about royalties.

  39. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Samsung Q.Q

  40. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple seem to be a brilliant marketing company who have Foxconn over a barrel. They're great at selling smartphones to people who didn't know they needed a smartphone. They're also slow moving, wait to see where the market is going and hoodwink the USPTO with some carefully designed patents which they can then exploit in a Californian court with a Californian panel or jurors.

    Samsung are a brilliant engineering company who move quickly based on what seems to be selling. They're not great at marketing, but they make things that people want, so long as people know what they want.

    And it turns out that people quite like large screens and Apple don't know how to deal with it.

    Soon the annual convention for the cult of the easily suggestible will be upon us and Tim Cook will be doing his QVC act, selling us awesome and amazing things we've "never seen before" and then we'll have another round of lunacy.

    Where's the popcorn icon?

  41. fLaMePrOoF
    Flame

    It's getting difficult to express (without resorting to a barrage of expletives and obscenities) just how much I LOATH Apple...

  42. Slacker@work
    Mushroom

    Who remembers...

    The Motorola A1000??

    Release date 2004 (3 years before the iPhone), with its large touch screen and nicely rounded corners, oh and the ability to video call just a bit like face time!?

  43. Charlie Clark Silver badge

    Weird thing:

    There is no doubt that the frequency with which I come across articles like these is adding to the favourable impression I have of Samsung and I mean above and beyond any sort of David versus Goliath thing. It makes me look more closely at the products they have an offer and, as they do produce good gear, every time I look I am more impressed.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Weird thing:

      Funny, that, isn't it?

      When my old phone died, my first thought was to go and check out the s3, had a play with one at a big Samsung marketing stand thingy, and accidentally bought one.

      It's fantastic, quick, bright screen, decent battery life (once you turn on the included power saving functions). There was a certain amount of guff that I turned off- mostly pointless gestures and things, and NFC until things become clearer there. I am not a fan of the plastic shell, I would have paid another fifty quid for a model with a magnesium alloy case- but in the end, I grabbed a nice "Suncase" leather slip case from Amazon for about £12..

      However, it really does the job for me. I want the ability to cope with a web browser comfortably, enough screen real estate to make email comfortable, texting to be quick and painless, and have some decent mapping abilities (good grief, Google Maps in offline mapping mode goes like stink on it). Oh, sometimes I need to receive or make phone calls too, which is seems to do quite well- but that's not top of my list.. ahem :)

      I didn't really consider the iPhone, as the 4S is coming to the end of its life, and is somewhat behind the curve specswise, and also, the S3's screen just gives you more space. What's more, the whole Apple "Vexatious Litigation Macht Frei" thing leaves a bit of a bitter taste in my mouth.. When my current Macbook Pro dies, I think I will be replacing it with a Thinkpad or similar.

  44. Toothpick
    Paris Hilton

    Apparently.....

    Samsung are suing Apple over 4G.

    http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tech/news/a403489/samsung-planning-to-sue-apple-over-4g.html

    I wonder if this latest Apple salvo will be used as a bargaining chip against Samsung? Samsung keeps its current lineup of phones, Apple gets whatever is necessary for 4G and both cases are quietly dropped.

    Paris: because she gets whatever is necessary

    1. relpy
      Mushroom

      Re: Apparently.....

      I don't think so.

      Samsung will intend to prevent Apple from selling things. Period.

      Bye bye Apple. It was "nice".

  45. OldBiddie
    Joke

    So ...

    When will Apple be calling for a mass burning of existing Samsung handsets?

  46. Flashy Red
    Thumb Down

    Sod quality, let's litigate...

    I wish the fruity one was as keen to fix the god-awful stuttering/choppy audio bug it introduced with OS X Mountain Loin as they are to throw money at lawyers. At the rate they're going I doubt anyone with upgrade to OS X Devon Rex when it comes out.

    Mac owner, sadly.

  47. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Personally, I find the Samsung S3

    Substantially different to any of the iDevices I've own and use. What patents are Apple saying Samsung infringed this time? A quick Google gave me (I think) some incomplete information:

    647 (Data detector) Waffle waffle blather blather obfuscate obfuscate (but I really don't see anything original in there - it's just messing with data structures). Have they managed to patent object orientation?

    721 (Slide to unlock) Thrown out of a UK court due to prior art from a Swedish company.

    172 (Word completion) Ever heard of T9??? Does this mean innovative British software like Swiftkey (who do it far better than Apple, BTW) are also supposed to be in breach of this patent?

    604 (Universal search) Doubtful. Really quite doubtful. Did Apple patent Google Desktop Search? At worst, it's taking a list of sources to search and putting the term to them sequentially. At best, it is doing that in parallel (which isn't particularly innovative either. Is this supposed to be innovation????

  48. gkroog
    Linux

    Apple stole intellectual property too...

    ...As has been made famous by a picture of Steve Jobs quoting him from 1996, about how Apple has "always been shameless about stealing great ideas." They TOOK the GUI and mouse idea from Xerox, and that MADE Apple, as it also MADE Microsoft. The same image shows a Sony Ericsson with a simple icon homescreen a year before the first iPhone, Windows CE with "slide-to-unlock" 2 years before iPhone, the notification bar in Android v1.0 3 years before iPhone, and the rounded corners design with big touch screen and single home button on a Samsung F700 6 months before iPhone. Apple has brazenly used all of that IP without a second thought and patented it as their own.

    Apple is after Samsung and Android because they know that Android is a threat to them.

    It will cause people to truly "Think Different." As The Register reported Apple's lawyers arguing in Australia, once an end user has become satisfied with Android, Apple feels they will have lost them. Or, as The Reg put it, Apple feels their products are too lame to withstand competition. The legal sword cuts both ways. And THAT'S what all the legal action is about: Apple can't compete against an unrestrained Samsung and Android, so they launch their "nukes". I hope they like fallout because I will not buy an Apple product on principle now.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Apple stole intellectual property too...

      Guess who's evidence won Apple the case? Google's evidence. They sent Samsung a memo saying their stuff was too similar to Apple and to consider changing the design. They ignored Google.

      So if Google can see it was a clone then why the surprise?

      1. gkroog

        Re: Apple stole intellectual property too...

        But who REALLY cloned who? The iPhone bears quite a resemblance to the F700 released 6 months before. the court didnt take that into account because Samsung declared it too late for the discovery process. And I'm not sure why Google is helping Apple, Maybe to score points with Apple to avoid legal action coming their way?

        Besides, as I pointed out, Apple has LOST this "they copied us play" in FIVE other countries, and yet they win in the US? And the jury's verdict has got lawyers and even law professors skeptical (http://www.theregister.co.uk/2012/08/28/apple_seeks_samsung_bans_now/). It smells funny to me, like the jurors had to give Apple a home turf win...

        And getting back to the content of the article we're all commenting on, on what grounds is Apple seeking to ban the Galaxy S3?! It's clearfrom first glance that its not an iPhone! Apple is doing it because its a threat to them. They've "won" a bit of footing, and now they're trying their luck with it. Maybe ultimately its because Apple is still sore over Microsoft doing to them what they did to Xerox: they took an idea from them. Apple sued and lost. Feels like now they're taking that out on everyone. why havent they aimed their "nukes" at T-Mobile? The T-Mobile Vivacity looks quite similar to an iPhone (http://www.reghardware.com/2012/08/22/ten_low_end_android_phones/page5.html), so why hasn't Apple sued them? I think everyone should do just as an analyst warned (also reported on The Register), which is namely to engineer away and aroung Apple's "IP" (which they happily took from other INNOVATORS and patented as their own) and thus devalue Apples patents. Of course they should then patent everything they can and leave Apple nothing to rip off anymore.

  49. Tony Paulazzo

    So why didn't mr Orlowski write this article explaining how this step is good for us consumers and poor inventors?

  50. rogerpjr
    Linux

    The Hague

    THE ultimate court..

    NO SILLY CON Valley Connection to Allow apple to run rough-shod over Justice.

    The US is represented, and would be bound to acknowledge the outcome.

    GOOGLE. Sammy. MOTO. LG. SONY, HTC, Acer, HUAWEI, et al, take heed.

    TOLD you APPLE would do this. Get SERIOUS.. TAKE HEED. COLLABORATE!!

  51. RonWheeler

    Apple ripped off PocketPC2003

    I can see very little apart from big icons on Apple's stuff to differentiate it from the old Windows Mobile Pcoket PC device I had in 2003.

  52. tom dial Silver badge
    FAIL

    Apple's crown jewels of innovation

    Consider the patents at issue in Apple v. Samsung (II), due for trial in early 2014.

    5,946,647, filed Feb 1, 1996 and granted Aug 31, 1999: To a first approximation, this is a patent on a class of computer programs - a general flow chart is provided to facilititate understanding - to perform functions such as those for which Perl was developed and has been used since 1988. For doubters who would point to the patent's mention of mouse selection, TkPerl was released in 1994 and Perl/Tk in 1995. As for mentions of audio interfaces, it would be quite unsurprising if CPAN did not contain modules before 1996 for interaction with sound transducers, both input and output.

    6,847,959, filed Jan 5, 2000, granted Jan 25, 2005: This patent appears to cover any modular application that searches more than one source and optionally filters the resulting matches using a ranking algorithm. This seems a bit wide ranging, not to say obvious; likely to have been done using Perl and available CPAN modules before 2000.

    8,046,721, filed Jun 2, 2009, granted Oct 25, 2011: Unlocking a device using a gesture. Much already has been written on that.

    8,074,172, filed Jan 5, 2007, granted Dec 6,2011: GUI for offering and accepting completions for partial words on a touch screen. Maybe novel, but possibly already done earlier in substance in keyboard based word processing programs. It might be good, if you like software patents and agree that a new patent should be given for an obvious use of a new type of input device. Patent 5,896,321, filed Nov 14, 1997 and granted to Microsoft on Apr 20, 1999 might otherwise be considered prior art. That one seems to have quite a load of references, suggesting, if it needed to be any more, that software patents are a nasty problem.

    8,014,760, filed Jun 27,2007, granted Sep 6,2011. Patenting a computer program for managing email or missed telephone calls in a graphic environment using a touch screen display. All the claims are rather obvious (suggesting there might be prior art from, e. g., Samsung, Sony, LG, Nokia ...). Additionally, a skilled practitioner of the application design art would be likely to develop an application very like that described if told to provide an application for managing contact information and the related telephone calls, email, and text messages.

    5,666,502, filed Aug 7, 1995, granted Sep 9, 1997: Patenting prioritized drop-down selection lists for a pen-based computer system (claims 1 - 7, and 13). Claims 8 - 11 and 14 - 26 do not specify the type of selection tool, and claim 12 lays claim to doing this on a "pointer-based computer system." I believe I learned in a PowerBuilder developer class (probably 1993 or 1994) how to do this in a Windows environment, so it was likely not new in mid-1995. It might come down to whether something already current can be patented in a new environment or should simply be considered an obvious adaptation to be made in passing by the skilled practitioners of the art.

    7,761,414, filed Jan 7, 2007, granted Jul 20, 2010: Asynchronous Data Synchronization Amongst Devices. This patents a program similar to RSync (released initially on Jun 19, 1996) with, in some claims, file locking or a shell script using rcp or scp together with flock as described in section 1 of the Unix Programmer's Manual. It seems pretty aggressive to claim a patent on using a standard Unix command for its intended purpose. Some claims refer specifically to one of the systems being hand held, but most do not. The specification of "asynchronous" is in that it is obvious on any multitasking OS. This should be ditched for both obviousness and prior art, and the approving patent examiner cautioned.

    8,086,604, filed Dec 1 2004, granted Dec 27 2011: Another search patent, extending 6,847,959. Another example of the mischief of software patents. At first glance it looks the same as the earlier patent. I've been at this a while and have no patience for a second.

    I will treasure my 1995 Powermac 8500 (with Debian Squeeze) until it dies. Apple has joined Sony on my no-buy list.

  53. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Oh I get it!

    Apple piss everyone off, everyone hates their guts, then they turn round and say "Oh alright, we didn't mean it! Sorry, we'll drop case because we're so nice.". Everyone loves them for being so nice.

    Oh just fuck off Apple you bunch of scumbags. I used to like Apple kit but when I got my Samsung S2 it was like a breath of fresh air. Just recently I spent a week in a cottage in the Scot's borders, no internet. My wife, with her shiny iPhone 4 and iPad2 had to leech off my much mocked Samsung "Andy" phone because it was able to share a decent 3G internet connect to three people at once! Unlike the cut-off Apple devices my Missus was stuck with until we could get along to a free WiFi spot!

    MS were full of it but never quite this bad. When my iMac died in March I built a Hackintosh, which is now running Ubuntu more often than the OSX it was built for. I replaced my iPhone last November with a SGS2. I was in two minds between an iPad and a ASUS tablet, the ASUS won out in January. The last thing I have left is my 3 year old white Macbook, when that dies it's not getting replaced. Apple used to be a plucky underdog but then when they cornered the pleb-market they disappeared up their own arse.

    Hope this kills you off you scumbags!

  54. Mitoo Bobsworth
    Unhappy

    End of an Era...

    ...if Apple don't learn to wind their collective head in. Apart from the legalese of this case, it's just not a good look for the pubic eye to kick the opposition when they're down, IMHO.

  55. raving angry loony
    Megaphone

    Correction

    The trial did not "conclude" last month. Trials include appeals, and we're FAR from done yet given the behaviour of both the judge and jury in the first episode of the ongoing saga.

  56. Neil Anderson
    Stop

    Just stop...

    It's not okay to copy.

  57. Chezstar
    Go

    Where is google in all this?

    As the worlds largest search engine, would it not be ever so easy to remove *.apple.com from...well....everywhere?

    Have any searches that look for apple, or iphone, or ipod route to a search result listing all the android phone makers.

    You could erase the litigious psychopaths from existence, and win teh lolz at the same time!

    Sure, you lose some advertising revenue, but come on, don't tell me you wouldn't get some serious backing from it?

    Lets reset the reality distortion field, by removing it from sight. Time to do a little stomping back at crapple.

    For the record? Had an iphone 3gs, went to a Samsung Galaxy S2, no they aren't the same, they aren't even close. The samsung is LIGHT YEARS ahead of the 3gs, and from what I have seen, the 4 and 4S are no better than my old 3gs was.

  58. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I have a copy of all the rooting software and stock rom to undo any time bomb that my Galaxy S3 encounter in the future. It seems most of Apple's grips are with Android rather than with Samsung. It's just Samsung is an easier target to hit than Google.

  59. James 36

    title

    when do the apple patents expire ?

  60. Probolone
    WTF?

    Ironic

    Yes, i bought my Galaxy Note misled by its design. I tought it was an iPhone.

  61. pullenuk

    Apple realised then that the adverts for the Galaxy S3 and the Note tab is making their usual customers realise there are better devices out there. So insteadd of catching up they want them off the shelves so they can make something different. Simple really

  62. Moosey
    Terminator

    What this is leading to...

    Apple obviously has the patent for making profit, anyone else making profit must be stopped!!!

  63. Will99
    Headmaster

    They want it all .....

    Steve Jobs famous quote about IBM now fits Apple very well

    Mind you it may actually promote innovation since no one will dare copy Apple products and be forced to re-invent the wheel.

  64. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    the battle of 'good' vs evil

    It always made me laugh (& fume) the way that Jobs was portrayed in most sections of the media as some sort of pseudo messiah, enlightening the masses and removing them from the quagmire of technological ignorance, whilst presiding benignly over his flock...

    However there is a great deal of evidence to suggest he was actually a self centred, egotistical, wannabe rock star with little or no regard for his employees (summary executions in the lift etc) and a delusions of such grandeur that it seemed entirely appropriate that they should forbid any other organisation on the planet from benefitting from general innovations/trends in the industry in the way that his own organisation so obviously has over the last 20 years.

    Now thats what I call buddhist principles in action!

    The whole thing has the stench of a pathetic school playground incident where the classroom spoilt brat with the posh parents and all the best toys wont let anyone else play them.

    Get a fucking grip apple - learn to accept that competition is a fact of life & it is ultimately what makes us all stronger in the end. Darwinism rules - or at least it should - unfortunately rules rule in the court though.

  65. Vernon Lloyd
    WTF?

    *shakes head in disbelieve*

    If was was a cynical person I would say that Apple would win this to increase relations between the US and China. If I was a cynical person........

    FFS it will not be long until the only phone supplier in the US will be Apple, and then what!

    Apple are like a big kid and imho need a good slap across the arse and put on the naughty step

  66. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Samsung

    So what about the round corners that the Samsung F700 had before the iPhone? The iPhone has almost nothing that other hardware didn't have before Apple...

    1. relpy
      Stop

      Not True!

      It's got a lovely shiny fruity logo on it.

      Mmmmmmmm Fruity Shiny Shiny .

  67. LightningKid
    Facepalm

    Doesn't this all sound familiar??

    Shades of SCo? Using extortion to steal money from others?

    First Samsung; then htc, Nokia, Fujitsu?

    Like the burb said: next they'll try to flex their patents on fire, and the wheel. And I heard they just patented breathing and the production of CO2...

This topic is closed for new posts.

Other stories you might like