Apple has amended its original complaint against Samsung over patent and intellectual property violations, adding a plethora of new rights violations to the list. The iPod maker has named Samsung's Nexus S 4G, Sidekick, Galaxy Tab 10.1, Droid Charge, and eight other devices as running knockoffs of Apple's own software for the iPhone and iPad. Apple has also fingered 15 of Samsung's devices as having been "slavishly" copied from physical iPhone and iPad designs, and added even more aggressive language to its complaint in order to convey what it believes are serious violations on Samsung's part.
Apple filed the amended complaint (of which Florian Mueller at FOSS Patents has written a detailed analysis) on Thursday, elevating some of its previous language about Samsung's alleged infringements. Apple said the electronics maker "has been even bolder" in copying Apple with its hardware and software designs ever since 2007, riding on the coattails of Apple's hard work.
Over the course of several years, Apple had teams of people working on developing each aspect of the design of the phone itself—the shape of the phone, the materials used, and the size and placement of the mask that frames the screen—as well as the Multi-Touch user interface, to make a product that looked and felt entirely different from prior phones on the market. The end result was a very clean shape for the phone, with an entirely flat glass panel for the front, gently rounded corners and integrated casing, and intuitive touch features.
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Before Apple’s introduction of the first iPhone product, no other company was offering a phone with these features. [...] None had the clean lines of the iPhone, which immediately caused it to stand apart from the competition.
In addition to the 13 smartphones and one tablet included in Apple's original complaint, Apple has named 11 devices that it believes Samsung has modeled after Apple's products. Apple also added three new patents to the list of those allegedly violated by Samsung—a multitouch hardware patent, another touchscreen-related patent, and a UI-related software patent—as well as five new design patents over graphical user interfaces.
As noted by FOSS Patents, Apple's amended complaint comes just in time for a court hearing over Samsung's request for access to Apple's unannounced next-generation devices. Apple had previously requested access to some of Samsung's devices (the Droid Charge, Infuse 4G, Galaxy S II, Galaxy Tab 10.1, and Galaxy Tab 8.9), so Samsung's move was seen by many as a fair reply. However, Apple's charges are related to Samsung allegedly copying past or current designs of Apple's, not future designs—a fact noted by Judge Lucy Koh in her decision to grant Apple access to Samsung's already-announced products.
Judging by Apple's decision to beef up its lawsuit language, the company doesn't seem interested in backing down or settling anytime in the near future. However, Samsung has already filed a number of its own lawsuits against Apple in the US as well as Europe and Asia, so Samsung is certainly ready and willing to fight back. Because of this, we would be mildly surprised to see a settlement as we did recently with Apple and Nokia.
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