1. Apple and Samsung
Design Similarities
Last Tuesday, the focal point of Apple and
Samsung’s international court dispute shifted to the
iPhone’s iconic display as the famous iPhone and
iPad maker summoned a former Apple employee,
who is an award-winning graphic designer- to
support the claims that Samsung has indeed violated Apple’s patents and copyrights by making its
products ‘confusingly similar’ to that of Apple’s gizmos.
Susan Kare, an Apple employee from 1982 to 1986, used her expertise on the original Macintosh
computers and had been involved in establishing the design icons of different Apple products since
her stay with the US Company. Now, she goes back to strengthen Apple’s resolve to repudiate and
stop Samsung’s alleged ‘criminal’ activity. She backs up Apple’s cause by examining 11 of the South
Korean phones- including the Galaxy S and the Epic 4G- and finding out that the icons and lay-outs
on the screens to be very similar.
The US tech giant contends that consumers may confuse Samsung gadgets with the iPhone, and
blatantly accuses Samsung of copying its designs and device features. But Samsung retaliates by
claiming that Apple has violated Samsung’s wireless technology patents.
Susan Kare, who also takes the credit for Microsoft’s icons such as the ‘Notepad’, says that she was
‘fooled’ by a Samsung gadget at a pre-trial meeting.
According to Kare’s statements:
“There was a big conference table with many phones on it, and some of them were on. I could see
the screen. I went to pick up the iPhone to make a point about the user interface, and I was holding
a Samsung. I think of myself as someone who’s pretty granular about looking at graphics, and I
mistook one for the other.”
At the court, when it was Samsung’s shot at cross-examining Kare, Charles Verhoeven- the lead
attorney- turned on a Samsung phone and asked the former Apple employee to tell the jury what she
saw- a bright white Samsung logo.
In addition, Kare mentions the many similarities of the Samsung phones, especially the rounded
corners, and a wide array of icon styles and evenly spaced grid.
She greatly believes the concept of uniqueness amid the mixture of existing designs. She says that
a company can do a design without having to make it look strikingly similar to that of other gadgets.

2. Apple even praised RIM’s BlackBerry since they produced gizmos with similar functionality housed
in a different design. Yes, like the BlackBerry Torch.
It appears that with more witnesses to rise on the stand, and more evidence to be exhibited, the
Samsung vs. Apple dispute will rage on, mirroring a long standing commercial war between the two
tech firms.
But whatever happens, the bottom line should be crystal clear: sell cell phone and be prepared to
grab whatever is the latest on the market!
Now that you know that iPhone 5 will be released soon, you should really sell your old cell phone!
Source: http://techinquirer.wordpress.com/2012/08/14/apple-and-samsung-design-similarities/