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Google Told Samsung Not To Copy Apple

By James Lu - on 27 Jul 2012, 11:05am

Google Told Samsung Not To Copy Apple

 Did Samsung's Galaxy S knowingly copy Apple's iPhone?

After a series of well documented legal battles of varying success, in multiple courtrooms around the world, Apple believes it may have finally acquired the evidence it needs to convince the world that Samsung deliberately copied aspects of the iPhone and iPad: Samsung's own internal documents that allegedly openly admit that the South Korean company mimicked the iPad.

In a patent battle trial that is scheduled to go to court in the US next week, Apple states in its brief: 

“Samsung’s documents show the similarity of Samsung’s products is no accident or, as Samsung would have it, a ‘natural evolution,“ rather, it results from Samsung’s deliberate plan to free-ride on the iPhone’s and iPad’s extraordinary success by copying their iconic designs and intuitive user interface. Apple will rely on Samsung’s own documents, which tell an unambiguous story.”

The documents allegedly show that not only did Samsung deliberately copy certain aspects of Apple products, but was also explicitly told not to by third parties, including Google. 

A few samples from the documents were published by AllthingsD:

  • In February 2010, Google told Samsung that Samsung’s “P1” and “P3” tablets (Galaxy Tab and Galaxy Tab 10.1) were “too similar” to the iPad and demanded “distinguishable design vis-à-vis the iPad for the P3.”
  • In 2011, Samsung’s own Product Design Group noted that it is “regrettable” that the Galaxy S “looks similar” to older iPhone models.
  • As part of a formal, Samsung-sponsored evaluation, famous designers warned Samsung that the Galaxy S “looked like it copied the iPhone too much,” and that “innovation is needed.” The designers explained that the appearance of the Galaxy S “[c]losely resembles the iPhone shape so as to have no distinguishable elements,” and “[a]ll you have to do is cover up the Samsung logo and it’s difficult to find anything different from the iPhone.”

If these claims are true, it will be hard for the South Korean company to defend itself against Apple's claims of patent infringement. For now, Samsung has yet to respond; we will update if and when they do so. 

Source: AllthingsD

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