One glaring problem with the German court proceedings that allowed Apple to file for a preliminary injunction against the Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 was the inability for the accused party to review the evidence brought against them. Had Samsung been given a chance to examine documents provided to the court by Apple, they may have noticed something fishy about a pictorial comparison found on page 28 of the filing. The side-by-side images of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 and iPad 2 were intended to show how similar the two devices appeared, and at first glance there is almost no noticeable difference between the two. At second glance, the astute eye might notice that the image of the Galaxy Tab has been manipulated to more closely resemble the iPad.
Whether the inclusion of the altered image was intentional or a mistake on the behalf of Apple’s legal team, misleading information has no place in a court of law, especially when the central complain is based on the similarities in appearance between the two devices. Once Samsung gets its day in court to appeal the ban of Galaxy Tab 10.1 sales around Europe, the facts will be brought to light. If the ban is indeed lifted (as it should be), it will serve as the perfect slap on the wrist for Apple’s filing blunder.
[via TechCrunch]
patent infringement or not governments should not be banning tablets period
Ouch.
Apple ought to be fined heavily for this as well as pay Samsung for any monetary damages incurred by not being able to sell its product.
Better idea – ban the sale of similar Apple products for the same number of days that Samsung was locked out of the market.
That would hit them where it hurts…
I tweetted it the first day : https://twitter.com/#!/djlemmings/
edit : my mistake :)
tweeted*
This will actually get Apple into A LOT of trouble (especially their attorneys). This is to an extent perjury by offering falsified documents as evidence. The dimensions are COMPLETELY off in that document and are a blatant lie.
Have fun with the fine you’re going to be slapped with Apple, as well as loss of profits counter claim, and I hope your attorneys are prepared to face the BAR.
Corporations get all the benefits of personhood, but none of the liabilities. That is, there will be no perjury charge. Period. They can lie all they want, and it gets blamed on some paper-pusher in an office, and the courts buy it.
Capitalism! Yay!
Capitalism isn’t the idea of big businesses, but what ever.
Only in capitalism can corporations reach such a high status, person-hood. Capitalism fosters the growth of monopolies, so while it isn’t the idea of big business in practice it is.
There may not be perjury charges. That rarely happens.
There may be sanctions. There may also be damages since Apple got an injunction that damaged Samsung’s business. Samsung can calculate how much damage they suffered as a result of misusing the court to get an injunction based on false evidence.
This could be fun.
The thing I want to know is whether the decision was based exclusively on this type of information (unlikely, I would hope), or whether the court did a physical comparison of the two units.
I doubt it… the court likely put the same amount of thought into this decision as the patent office that granted apple their patents on a multi-touch device did.
ergo not much? lol
Apple has already won this battle. The rapid change/improvements in technology makes any injunction a giant boot stepping on the recipient. By the time you fight you way out of the injunction your product is obsolete and all your R&D and marketing costs were for naught. But the old adage “live by the sword die by the sword” still holds. I believe Apple will eventually lose the war. When I hear avowed Apple owners refer to Jobs a “Satanic Big Brother” the gloss on that Apple is fading fast.
Live by the patent, die by the patent.
Google: partner with everyone, sue no one.
Apple: partner with no one, sue everyone.
So why aren’t they suing HP over the Touchpad??
Palm probably has a big pile of interesting patents that apply to the Iphone and Ipad. The market share and competitive threat from the Touchpad is relatively small right now. Any legal battle will just result in a cross-licensing agreement and lots of fees. Best to just not fight that war.
But yeah, from 10 feet the Touchpad looks exactly like an Ipad.
Apple’s trying to set precedent. Then it’s likely a lot of the other manufacturers will settle out of court. (My opinion, not fact)
I asked this same thing at anither site. Some iFan was saying how other tablets were more unique. I mentioned this…never got a response about it….
Because Apple isn’t afraid of the HP Touchpad.
Next question.
I hope this bit of information tampering and fraud puts apple liable for the money lost by Samsung in this crooked case. The filing of tampered photos in a court of law is not only illegal, it’s criminal intent. Apple should be stripped of all patents and fined heavily.
“Did Apple’s Bogus Evidence Lead European Galaxy Tab Ruling?”
yes.
“Whether the inclusion of the altered image was intentional or a mistake on the behalf of Apple’s legal team..”
intentional.
Begun, the Clone Wars have.
hahaha, i can’t LIKE this one enough!
Like this if you read the comment on your head with Yoda’s voice
But what kind of backwoods, kangaroo court is it that only permits one-side of an argument ?!! (The question kind of answers itself doesn’t it?)
you should head over to Thisismynext.com and read Nital’s lengthy blog about the way German courts are setup. If its possible to believe, there is something worse than the USPTO. Apparently, everything Apple did was legal. However, what they presented to the court may be in question, and once the hearing is underway we should have a better understanding of what’s going to happen.
To fight this, everyone needs to start saying “Ha ha! German courts don’t know jack about technology!”…. ad nauseum. Germany certainly doesn’t want the reputation of having backwoods, kangaroo courts. That might actually spur some reform. Nothing a German hates more than to be thought of as a nincompoop…
ANY alteration from the truth will be deam as misrepresentation.
The court SHOULD throw out any injunctions based on that fact alone as that would undermine the authority of the German court system.
If they can prove that it was done INTENTIONALLY, not only will be injuction be lifted, but also Apple will get a fine for contempt of court.
I hope that Samsung returns the favor to Apple in a counter-suit…yes per German rules of court this is all legal but once the court sees the ACTUAL evidence the junction should be completely removed and Samsung allowed to sue the **** outta Apple for that underhandedness…
In other news the Apple fanboys at work are turning more and more to Android, and they now PREFER android over Apple…can’t wait to see Apple become a niche market once again, thanks Jobs for your Hubris, I’ll be laughing when your booted back off of Apple’s board…
One has to admit that coming up with the idea of altering that image was quite innovative and the results were quite magical!
This was no blunder, Apple intentionally manipulated the photograph. This will not only get the case thrown out but it will tarnish Apples already shady reputation.
I hope samsung gets the right to violently @$$ rape Steve jobbs and the rest of apple for this
Apples innovative and revolutionary legal strategies.
Apple have stretched it a bit far with this one.
of all these lawsuits apple has been filing, i haven’t heard about them suing LG. gee, i wonder if the LG Prada might have anything to do with that.
as for this filing, the ban should be dropped very quickly after samsung gets their day in court. I also hope that samsung files a counter suit for damages and hindering their image. i have an idea for Jobs, why not cut and paste the specs while you’re at it, and make the galaxy tab look even more like that piece of crap you call a tablet. The galaxy tab is a million times better.
If you look at Apple’s full complaint, it includes several actual photographs of the iPad and Galaxy Tab side-by-side. The dispute here is over one image.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/61993811/10-08-04-Apple-Motion-for-EU-Wide-Prel-Inj-Galaxy-Tab-10-1
What difference does that make?
What exactly is it you’re trying to say here, it’s ok Apple lied in court because they only lied some of time?
Oh I’m sure Apple will manage to come out of this squeaky clean. Just have to give someone a little more cash.
Love how the picture shows only icons too, no widgets… come on apple lets see the widgets on the iPad.
There trying get it so you can remember apple when there gone
We are DROID resistant is fueltile