Don’t mess with Apple’s designs. That’s the message as the iPad and iPhone maker steps up its attacks on rival Samsung. As the two prepare to face off in court today, Apple has now amplified its verbiage, claiming that Samsung products “blatantly imitate” the iPhone and iPad’s sleek appearance. Earlier, the tech giant referred to Samsung as merely the “copyist.”
If you’ve followed the courtroom wrangling, you know Samsung wants Apple to cough-up the iPad 3 and iPhone 5 — due largely because the court earlier ordered Samsung to provide early products to Apple.
The amended complaint just filed by Apple also names several more Samsung products, including the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Galaxy S, and Galaxy S II to an existing list of devices the Cupertino, Calif. firm alleges shows copyright infringement. Samsung “has been even bolder” than other firms that borrow the iPhone’s looks” with “products that blatantly imitate the appearance of Apple’s products to capitalize on Apple’s success,” according to the complaint.
Specifically, Samsung in 2007 copied “the clean flat surface of the Apple iPhone Trade Dress and Apple iPhone/iPhone 3G/iPhone 4 Trade Dress,” the company claims. That clean look was a break from the usual appearance of keyboards and other components which made cell phones bulky. “None had the clean lines of the iPhone, which immediately caused it to stand apart from the competition,” according to Apple’s court filing.
