Apple has decided to file a lawsuit against Samsung stating that they have infringed in design matters by stealing and copying their designs. Apple has stated that the Galaxy S II, Galaxy Tab 8.9, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Infuse 4G and Droid Charge are all copied designs by Samsung.
The lawyers were pointed to discuss and decide if these models were violating Apple’s patent in regards to the iPhone 4 and its design. It was determined that the case’s judge was seemingly tending to agree with Apple’s lawsuit since they presented an example of how the Galaxy Tab 10.1 was overwhelmingly similar to the iPad 2 and there were remarks stated by Samsung’s Vice President Lee Don-Joo where he stated that they were going to surpass Apple with their new model. These remarks were made shortly after Apple released the iPad 2.
Samsung tried to counterpart by stating that their products weren’t even released when Apple was accusing them of infringement, however this was proven wrong when it was stated that Samsung had indeed given out thousands of trial devices at the Google I/O at the beginning of May.
The court allowed Samsung more time to prepare their depositions given that there was too short of a notice. Although, if you compare the phones you will see that there are many differences that have not been taken into account. As a matter of fact Samsung phones are very different than the Android phones which happen to be very similar to Apple’s.
Recently Apple submitted a request for expedited discovery with a selected product that has not been announced. Samsung responded to this request and also wants from Apple to bring forward unreleased versions of both the iPad and the iPhone. Samsung will base their reports on the future iPhone and iPad versions and they have declined that the lawsuit it would be based on what is already available in stores. Indeed they have stated that being able to obtain information on devices that have been not been even announced would make the dispute just fair.
It must be clear though that the discovery motion wasn’t filed expecting much of a result since the judge had already granted the motion for Apple. Both the iPhone and iPad might remain unannounced until September at the earliest- this is based on online rumors. On the other hand Samsung had already made public, and had shared with the press, that the Galaxy S II and the Galaxy Tab 8.9 were already on finalized versions.
Apple might be pushed to bring the discovery motion to an appeal process in order to push back the case until the next versions of the iPhone and iPad are made available for sale. Settlement discussions have been temporarily held up.
