16 October, 2011
By Adnan
Well this is certainly embarrassing for an attorney, not being able to distinguish between your clients product from the one, makers of which are suing your client for patent infringement. Apple and Samsung are battling it out in court as Apple pleads that Samsung has infringed various patents and have blatantly copied the design of iPad 2 for their Galaxy Tab 10.1. At a recent court hearing, an attorney for Samsung was unable to distinguish the between the iPad 2 and Galaxy Tab 10.1, giving yet another point to the prosecution as they can now claim that the defendants lawyers can’t even distinguish between the blatant copying of design!
News agency Reuters, reporting recent proceedings, reveals that a US judge said that Samsung has indeed infringed Apple’s patents whereas Apple needs to establish the validity of its patents. While more evidence wasn’t needed to support the claim that Samsung copied iPad’s design, when asked to distinguish between the two tablets held roughly 10 feet away from him, Samsung’s lawyer was unable to differentiate between the iPad 2 and Galaxy Tab 10.1.
Koh [US Judge] frequently remarked on the similarity between each company’s tablets. At one point during the hearing, she held one black glass tablet in each hand above her head, and asked Sullivan if she could identify which company produced which.
“Not at this distance your honor,” said Sullivan, who stood at a podium roughly ten feet away.
“Can any of Samsung’s lawyers tell me which one is Samsung and which one is Apple?” Koh asked. A moment later, one of the lawyers supplied the right answer.
Need we remind you that we’re not criticizing the ability of Samsung’s attorney. We’re quite sure that all of them are highly qualified in matters of the court proceedings. The factor of human error exists in every profession and one must not negate the logical aspects that can be behind this. For example it is essential to keep in mind that all tablet, more or less, look like each other. The fact is that tablets will also look tablets, like TVs always look like TVs no matter how much you change design. The screen of both tablets was off, making it difficult not just for the lawyers but anyone really to distinguish between two separate devices.
Then again, there’s some irresponsibility on the lawyer’s part as well. Lawyers should understand that they’re defending their client which has been sued for alleged copying of design as well as software. It is up to them to accustom themselves to the products under scrutiny because as it turns out, there is a major difference between Galaxy Tab 10.1 and iPad 2. The former does not have a Home button on its bezel like the latter does. Also, the Galaxy Tab 10.1 is wider than the iPad 2. Anyone who has seen or used both of these devices would have been able to tell them apart, after a fair deal of squinting from 10 feet away.
In the end however, one of the lawyers for Samsung was able to differentiate between iPad 2 and Galaxy Tab 10.1. While that lawyer might have saved further embarrassment for both the lawyers and Samsung, it gave yet another point to the prosecution as they have further proof that Samsung copied iPad’s design for Galaxy Tab. The verdict on this lawsuit is still a long way to go, we’ll keep updating you about this in the coming days.
