Apple gives Samsung advice on non-patent infringing designs – hilarity ensues

As you probably know, Apple and Samsung are in the middle of a no holds barred, worldwide battle royale over design patents. Apple claims that the design of Samsung’s devices is too close to that of Apple’s iPad and iPhone. Samsung insists that Apple is trying to protect functional elements that are required by today’s standards and says it had no other realistic options.

In order to disprove Samsung’s claim, Apple needed to provide alternate design options to prove that Samsung did, in fact, blatantly copy Apple’s design. Some samples from these suggestions include:

Smartphones:

• Front surface that isn't black.
• Overall shape that isn't rectangular, or doesn't have rounded corners.
• Display screens that aren't centered on the front face and have substantial lateral borders.
• Non-horizontal speaker slots.
• Front surfaces with substantial adornment.
• No front bezel at all.

Tablets:

• Overall shape that isn't rectangular, or doesn't have rounded corners.
• Thick frames rather than a thin rim around the front surface.
• Front surface that isn't entirely flat.
• Profiles that aren't thin.
• Cluttered appearance.

Essentially by Apple’s standards, Samsung can make all the thick, ugly, hard-cornered, non-rectangular devices its little heart desires. We assume LeapFrog’s popular children’s tablet, the LeapPad, would be a perfect example of what Apple finds acceptable.

Apple has even requested a ban on the recently re-released Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1N. We will have to wait until the final decision on a possible injunction to find out if Apple is in fact the ruler of all thin, black, rounded rectangles.

source: The Verge via SlashGear