The mobile world is locked up in one gigantic legal battle in which every smartphone company is suing every other company for patent violations. That’s dumb. What’s even dumber though is that Apple has just succeeded in getting a German court to grant a preliminary injunction against the distribution of Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1 throughout the entire European Union (EU) (with the exception of The Netherlands) on the grounds it infringes on Apple’s iPad design.
This decision has nothing to do with patents or copyrights. It has nothing to do with the lawsuits swirling around Android. This particular case was just about the design, the look of the Samsung Galaxy Tab, and that’s it. Now, I want you to click on this PDF copy of (European] Community design no. 000181607-000. Now, take a long hard look at it. What do you see?
I’ll tell you what I see, it’s a freaking tablet. Yes, it looks like an iPad. But, it looks just as much like every tablet that’s ever existed or ever will exist. It’s a tablet.