Apple: Samsung “Blatantly” Copying Us

Those of us who have been covering the world of smart-phones and tablets have been wondering for a while on why Apple has not been suing certain companies for some of their tactics including copying features from Apple products. Apple seems to be ready to bring the hammer down on this issue. It has sued Samsung for copying iPhone, iPad, and iPod. Samsung has copied technologies, designs, and even packaging:

Instead of pursuing independent product development, Samsung has chosen to slavishly copy Apple’s innovative technology, distinctive user interfaces, and elegant and distinctive product and packaging design, in violation of Apple’s valuable intellectual property rights

It is very true that if you can’t beat them, you should just copy them. Unfortunately for Samsung, that is probably not an approach deemed legal. Apple’s complaint covers patent infringement, trademark violation and trade dress violations.

Those of us who watched Steve Jobs present iPad 2 a couple of months ago got a hint about Apple’s plans back then. Steve went out of his way to bash Apple rivals for copying and trying to have the next iPad instead of coming up with innovations of their own.

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,” he said. “This kind of blatant copying is wrong, and we need to protect Apple’s intellectual property when companies steal our ideas.

Let’s face it. A lot of tech savvy folks will not mistake Samsung Galaxy Tab with Apple iPad. At the same time, Samsung has been pushing it a bit in the past few months by trying to copy certain Apple things. Samsung is probably more than capable of being competitive in the tablet and smart-phone business without blatantly copying Apple. Not surprisingly, the case is not as clear cut as it seems. We don’t expect Samsung to lose this that easily.

Your take: do you ever mistake Samsung products for Apple products?