back to article Apple snubs Samsung's Oz patent peace offering

Apple has rejected Samsung's peace deal in an Australian court, preferring instead to go to trial where a win could influence its other lawsuits around the world. Last week, Samsung offered an undisclosed compromise aiming to halt the battle in Oz, which is now focused on just one disputed patent. Neither manufacturer let on …

COMMENTS

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  1. banjomike
    Thumb Down

    we don't accept and there is no surprise ...

    damn right there is no surprise. Apple lives for this sort of thing. Always has done.

    Go Samsung!

  2. DF118
    Facepalm

    "The main reason we are here is to prevent the launch..."

    And there we have it in a nutshell.

  3. Head
    Windows

    Hmmm

    This case would have been better if both companies were ordered to cease selling the offending products until a settlement is reached.

    I can't see how apple will win anyway, it's stifling competition

  4. Nick Ryan Silver badge

    Monopoly, monopoly, monopoly

    That's all they're after, through every means they can.

    Good for the consumer? Hell no! But what does that matter?

  5. Tom 7

    Help or Hinder?

    Since OZ makes its own laws on patents on behalf of big business it hard to see how it will influence other countries with laws based on the needs of the voting citizens in healthy democratic countries.

    I guess we're fucked...

  6. Ian Yates
    WTF?

    Odd choice of words

    "slavishly copies", and now down to just one possible patent infringement...

    1. Field Marshal Von Krakenfart

      Nothing Odd...

      Just lawyer weasel words.

      It's also an attempt by the weasel to "Poison the well", by using a judgmental term "slavishly" the weasel is trying to load the argument before the court with an emotive term.

      If Samsung had "slavishly" copied the iFad, the galaxy would be the same size as the iFad, and as we all know, that's only true in crApples photoshopped images.

      I've often wondered why a witness in a legal case has to swear an oath to tell "the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth", but why don't lawyers have to swear the same oath?

  7. Alan Brown Silver badge

    1 possible outcome

    Samsung can't sell ipad lookalikes...

    ,,, and Apple can't sell anything which incorporates mobile phone technology

    1. Rex Alfie Lee
      FAIL

      Apple would end up in a huge payout...

      If this occurred as you say then Apple would be paying Samsung for the hardware they've already sold & it would be huge because they would be punished with backdated costs as well as interest. Here's going...

  8. auburnman
    Trollface

    I always heard Apple was good at whipping up demand by restricting supply and it's true... the more I'm told I can't have a Galaxy tab the more I want one.

  9. HollyHopDrive

    all this apple agression.....

    ....is the sole reason I won't ever buy another Apple product. I have a mac and I love it. I have an HTC desire and an Android fondleslab. I was going to buy the wife a mac as a replacement for her aging laptop, but given how much of a bunch of tossers Apple are being, I can't bring myself to contribute to their legal fund. My next phone will be a Samsung, if only to help them kick apples butt.

  10. Andy 97
    Stop

    It's a Metallica moment for Apple

    And we all know who still bears the scars for that...

    Erm, the PR departments.

  11. Kevin Johnston

    Bring on the court

    I can only hope that, with the Samsung lawyers fully prepped, this will be a 'proper' battle over the validity of both Apple's patent and their claim of it's applicability.

    Even to my untutored eye the differences between the two devices are clear as they are different sizes (yes it isn't much but for a slavish copy it would need to be a damned sight closer) have different size screens with different resolution and different primary orientation (the iPad logos and docking ports imply portrait while the Samsung logos etc clearly imply landscape)

    With regards to the on-screen layout, well I hope it isn't a shock to Apple but a screenful of icons is about as common as it gets. My old Palm Pilot did it that way

    1. Stuart Castle Silver badge

      "With regards to the on-screen layout, well I hope it isn't a shock to Apple but a screenful of icons is about as common as it gets. My old Palm Pilot did it that way"

      I don't think it's so much the "screenful of icons", which, as you rightly point out, has been used by computers for years (possibly back to the GUI used on Xeroxs "paperless office" in the 70s), more that Samsung have repeatedly copied the idea, the arrangement (icons in a strictly enforced grid, on a black background, with four icons on a differently coloured background on the bottom).

      I am not defending Apple's actions (on the contrary, I think the tech industry as a whole would be a lot better off if companies started innovating rather than suing each other), but merely moving a logo is not proof you didn't copy a design..

  12. Bodestone

    I still don't get it

    The whole of Apple's infringement suit is that the samsung's look the same.

    OK, so the Galaxy Tab, if you squich the aspect ratio and squint a bit might look similar (though I also don't see how you can patent rounded corners, I for one do not look forward to Apple preventing the sale of custard creams) but the S range of phones look nothing like an iPhone.

    1. Giles Jones Gold badge

      Well you must not be looking at the right pictures?

      http://www.instablogsimages.com/images/2011/05/02/galaxy-s-vs-iphone-3g_qAq8K_37497.jpg

      There's a lot more than coincidence there. HTC's phones don't look so similar, Nokia don't look similar and many other phones don't look similar. Samsung does and it's mostly deliberate.

      1. EyeCU
        Facepalm

        Then please explain this

        http://www.engadget.com/2006/01/04/samsungs-digital-photo-frame/

        Looks a lot like an iPad doesn't it. Except that is a Samsung product released in 2006, just remind me again when the iPad was launched - 2010 wasn't it.

        It could be argued that they are 2 different products doing totally different things and you would be right, however Apples claims are based on design - nothing more. In terms of design I would say that Samsung got there well in advance of Apple wouldn't you.

  13. Stephen Hunt
    Stop

    "The main reason we are here is to prevent the launch and maintain the status quo"

    Forward thinking tech firm?

    The current generation of smart phones is not the end game. They may make a lot of money now, but there are uncountable leaps of innovation still to be made.

    Start making those leaps instead of trying to stagnate the market.

  14. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Apple will lose in the long run...

    There is a good chance they'll win the court battle, but I think the hearts of the customers are already lost.

    The logical result is that people will wonder what Samsung has that Apple wants to stop them from having.

    After my experience with the Galaxy S2; they're missing a lot because it is a nice little machine.

    1. Chris Parsons

      I would like to think you're right

      but it will only be thinking people whose hearts will be lost. The masses will continue to follow the Pied Piper, sadly.

  15. phlashbios
    Meh

    No fan of Apple's behaviour, but.....

    Yes, it punishes the the consumer when products aren't available and yes, it even perhaps stifles innovation while everyone tries to ensure that todays R&D that they are carrying out for tomorrows products, doesn't infringe a patent somewhere.

    There are two issues here. One of them is the granting of patents that cover vast traunches of similar technologies, such as how a capacitive touch screen will respond, and the second is the legitimate defence of patent rights.

    In my opinion, it is the granting of patents that needs looking at, so that broad patent definitions do not cover a particular technology that is in wide use (such as how touchscreens are used) and are limited to something more specific and less generic.

    I would condone anyones right to defend their patents, but when the patents are too generic and widespread and start to describe how a device could be used, so that other manufacturers cannot make devices that use certain touch gestures, then I would say that the patent reach is too wide and needs to be more focussed.

    It is a sadly accepted fact that these days a patent portfolio is a huge and commercially recognised asset for a business and is high on the list of assets looked at by companies involved in takeover bids. Litigation and commercial profit are not in the interests of anyone but the device manufacturers however, there is certainly no benefit for you and I.

    TL;DR - Ensure patents are more specific before they are granted rather than broad spread, blanket coverage of technologies.

  16. Alex Walsh

    Running scared

    After the comical launch of the 4S yesterday, which is basically a fix version of the iPhone 4, fixing all the faults and bringing it up to spec with where other smartphones were a few months ago, Apple must be redoubling their efforts to stop better products reaching the market.

    I laughed when I saw some apologists saying that £99/$99 for an iPhone 4 on a two year contract was a great deal now the 4S has been announced, tempting the 3GS owners (like me) to upgrade on the cheap. Why would I want an iPhone 4 though? It will be almost 3 iterations out of date by the time a 2 year contract runs out.

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