Are they suing using the Newton UI patent? I don't think so. Shipping and patenting 10 years later doesn't help. In fact this Apple could be prior art against itself.
My point is that Apple isn't suing just because Samsung chose to use a home screen filled with icons.
From the article:
"It’s no coincidence that Samsung’s latest products look a lot like the iPhone and iPad, from the shape of the hardware to the user interface and even the packaging." an Apple representative told Mobilized.
And from the WSJ article about the same topic:
Alan Fisch, an attorney with Kaye Scholer LLP in Washington D.C., said, "By sheer volume alone, this is a substantial assertion of intellectual property rights."
Except it also looks a lot like the HP iPaq 100 series that predates the iPhone. A full screen touch device with no keyboard and rounded corners. The 200 series came in black.
Apple's alleged "trade dress" is the evolution of the touch device w/ no keyboard.
Apple's alleged "trade dress" is the evolution of the touch device w/ no keyboard.
You're one of the few people who have actually seen Apple's court filing? I'd appreciate it if you'd share it with me. My email address is in my profile.
As for the iPAQ 100 & 200: they aren't phones, they came after [1] the introduction of the iPhone [2], and I personally don't think they look anything like Samsung's Galaxy S or Apple's iPhone:
You are right on the date. Off by some months that year... in any case, just to make sure I'm not off again, we can just go back to an early iPaq, such as the 3100.
Announced in 2001. A mere six years before the iPhone was announced. Sure, doesn't look exactly like the iPhone, but if one can't see that the evolutionary footprint wasn't established, they aren't looking very hard.
Put it another way, if you show me an iPaq in 2001 and say in 10 years phones will look like the Samsung Galaxy my response would probably be, "disappointingly little will change over 10 years".
I agree completely. And if we're going that far back in time, I'd say that Apple's Newton MessagePad was closer to the iPhone than the iPAQ 3100 was.
So there we are, back where we started. I propose we just wait until we know exactly what Apple is suing Samsung for. To name one possibility, I wouldn't be surprised if Apple uses one of its multitouch patents against Samsung.
But as we can now read in Apple's court filing, that's not what Samsung is getting sued over. The similarities between Apple's iPhone and Samsung's Galaxy devices go way further.
http://pdadb.net/img/os/newton/newton_os_2.0_all_icons.png
The lawsuit isn't just about Samsung using a desktop metaphor. They copied all sorts of hardware and software characteristics from the iPhone.