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One of the findings of the Federal Appeals court on Monday in the Apple vs Samsung affair, was that "trade dress" doesn't matter if some element of it has actual functionality.
According to CNN Money:
Patent law states that designs can be only be protected if they serve a non-functional purpose. Think about the placement of logos. The court said the shape of the iPhone, on the other hand, is functional. Specifically, the appeals court found the iPhone's rectangular body, with its rounded edges, improves how easy it is for people to slip the phone in and out of pockets. The shape also improves the durability of the device.
You would expect this would be an end of years of Rounded Corners jokes. But somehow, I suspect this will become an internet meme that will be with us for decades.
The story goes on to point out that not only is the trade dress tossed out, even the bulk of the penalty for other infringements, (calculated by a jury, apparently out of thin air) will have to be re-adjudicated by another jury.
(Score: 5, Touché) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday May 20 2015, @05:02PM
When I was growing up, we were invited to make and use squares, circles, rectangles, and any combination thereof. I'm pretty damned sure that Etch-A-Sketch had those rounded corners long before Steve Jobs had a hair on his ass. I wouldn't bet a lot on his hairy ass, some babies are born hairy. But, hell, I'd bet a paycheck anyway.
(Score: 2, Disagree) by Tork on Wednesday May 20 2015, @05:52PM
This has nothing to do with Etch-A-Sketch or Sony's picture frame or anything else. It's a case of Samsung copying Apple's aesthetic, not a case reverse-engineering. This is about a design patent, 'design' being a much more important word than 'patent'.
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 3, Interesting) by HiThere on Wednesday May 20 2015, @06:52PM
FWIW, at least *some* Apple products have rounded corners approximately the same diameter as those of an Etch-a-Sketch(tm?). OTOH, on the example I compared, Apple had a more graceful transition between the rounded corner and the straight line between the corners. And in the straight section it was straighter, though perhaps the Etch-a-Sketch was also straighter when it was new.
Javascript is what you use to allow unknown third parties to run software you have no idea about on your computer.
(Score: 2) by Tork on Wednesday May 20 2015, @07:01PM
🏳️🌈 Proud Ally 🏳️🌈
(Score: 2) by hubie on Wednesday May 20 2015, @07:48PM
Well, not ANY combo you wanted. If you used two different-sized diamonds [wikipedia.org], you could have found yourself on the wrong side of a copyright case [gwu.edu]