[cube13]

But this isn't the issue at hand.

Apple's claiming that Samsung deliberately copied their trade dress to confuse consumers. Remember, trade dress isn't functionality. It's the look and feel of the product, not the functionality.

It's over things like the color of the slide to unlock mechanism. The choice of icons and placement. Not the fact that you move your finger across the screen in a certain place to unlock the phone.

[Drakim]

Doesn't their phone say "SAMSUNG" on the top of the frontside?

Surely Samsung wanted to mimic that sleek smartphone feeling that was all the rage, but try to confuse customers with a clone? They would be doing a terrible job.

[mc32]

That's true, but people are known to buy knock-offs because their looks are close enough to that of the genuine article.

In this kind of example, so long as it looked pretty similar and acted pretty similar, people might feel okay to buy the alternative product --whereas if it had the same functionality, or perhaps better fucntionality, but did not look like the genuine product, they might look elsewhere.

[nessus42]

I don't know about Samsung's phones, but I've definitely held a Samsung tablet that did not say "Samsung"--or in fact anything--on the frontside. It was clearly designed to look as much like an iPad as possible.

And I now own a Google Nexus 7 tablet (in addition to an iPad). It also does not say anything on the frontside. It, clearly, is also designed to look from the front as much like an iPad as possible--only smaller.

[Nerdfest]

... well, you know, except for the size, and those extra buttons. Of course, that takes us back to a black rectangle with rounded corners.

[nessus42]

Btw, there are no extra buttons on a Nexus 7. The front of the Nexus 7 looks almost exactly like an iPad down to nearly every last subtle detail: The color and texture of the brushed aluminum trim, the black and proportions of the frame around the screen, the location of the forward-facing camera, the lack of any text or logo. Even the location of most of the connectors and switches is remarkably similar to the iPad. The only differences are that the headphone connector has been moved to the bottom, and the power button has been moved from the top edge to the right edge. But it is located where there is a button on the iPad.

From looking at the front of the Nexus 7, the only noticeable difference from an iPad is the lack of the round Home button that every iPad has.

To say that this is the only conceivable way for a tablet to look indicates either profound rationalization, or a true lack of imagination and knowledge of history. To assert that Google has such lack of imagination and knowledge of history is even more absurd. History is replete with examples of tablet computers that don't closely resemble the iPad. Even the Kindle Fire is noticeably different.

[nessus42]

I'm constantly entertained by the amazing things that people will claim.

[sigzero]

Don't overestimate the smarts of Joe Public.

[batista]

>Surely Samsung wanted to mimic that sleek smartphone feeling that was all the rage, but try to confuse customers with a clone?

Confusing them with a clone doesn't necessarily mean having them believe they are buying an iPhone.

It's about having them believe: "well, this looks same-ish to me, it should be just as good as that iPhone thing".