Ripping off Apple’s iconic designs is one thing, but Samsung just took its copying to a whole new level of stupid by trying to patent the Apple Watch.
Its new filing for a “Wearable Device” uses not one but many sketches of Apple’s popular smartwatch, complete with digital crown and all the same straps.
“Most of the pictures in the patent application depict a generic smartwatch,” reports Business Insider. “But two figures clearly depict Apple’s smartwatch, not a Samsung device.”
The image above, “Figure 10” in Samsung’s filing, bears a striking resemblance to a bunch of marketing photos Apple published on its website following the Apple Watch’s unveiling back in September 2014.
Samsung’s patent actually focuses on a new method of attaching watch straps to a wearable device, rather than a whole new wearable. But even so, Apple will almost certainly be pissed that its own device appears in the filing.
Samsung chiefs probably won’t be too pleased, either. The company has been trying to shake its copycat image since it was found guilty of ripping off Apple’s original iPhone, and its latest smartphones couldn’t be more different in terms of design.
It’s not totally clear how these illustrations made it into this patent filing, then, but someone at Samsung could be about to get the chop. Not only does the device in its images resemble the Apple Watch, but even little details have been ripped off.
Photo: Samsung
Photo: Samsung
Killian Bell is a freelance writer based in the U.K. He has an interest in all things tech and also covers Android over at CultofAndroid.com. You can follow him on Twitter via @killianbell.
33 responses to “Samsung just tried to patent the Apple Watch”
Wow, no kidding. I looked all the way through to the actual patent filing. They used Apple’s pictures. Samsung is such a childish company with no real innovation.
Wait so Apple is innovating right? The new iPhone will remove headphone jack (step backwards), and retain almost the exact same design as last year. I do not agree with Samsung’s stupid legal moves with patents and their shameful and blatant attempts to copy. But as far as innovation goes, Apple hasn’t even come close in recent years. What has Apple truly introduced over the last 3 years that no one else had at all? There any many arguments to be made about Android Vs. iOS, but Android & Samsung have been a hell of a lot more innovative than Apple when it comes to iPhone/iOS. Making things/features that already exist easier does not make you innovative, it makes you smarter/clever.
Also lets look at the definition of the word ‘Innovation’ = the introduction of something new
Apple doesn’t exactly introduce a lot of ‘new’ things year after year. Their iPhones receive spec bumps, and maybe one or two new hardware features. The OS itself adds some pretty nice features but most of them either already existed in Android or they are just being improved upon. They simply attempt to perfect something that has already been out there. There is nothing wrong with that, but don’t call it innovation.
And Samsung has innovated what?
Remember innovation = introduction of something new
-Curved Displays (yes obviously a display has existed, but this is a new type of display)
-Really Large Displays (the Galaxy Note set the tone for the iPhone 6S Plus, thank them for that because Apple had ZERO intention of making larger displays)
-Spen – Much more than a stylus, and it’s funny because Apple went ahead and made the Apple pencil after mocking the stylus approach with the first iPhone
-Iris Scanner
-Samsung Pay – MST payment method destroys Apple Pay and Android Pay
-Smartwatch – Samsung had the real first feature filled Smart Watch on the market.
That’s just a name a few..
Every item you just listed as innovation is something that Samsung borrowed from someone else. Thanks for wasting our time.
You wasted your time responding, I simply stated my opinion. I didn’t know my opinion mattered enough for you to “waste your time” lol
Your opinion doesn’t make any sense, therefore it’s wasting the time of anyone reading it.
Samsung is the first company EVER to develop a 14 nm processor (even intel was second here),
first company EVER to develop DDR4 SDRAM (for both smartphones and computers), first company EVER to introduce UFS 2.0 Smartphone Flash Storage,
first company EVER to introduce curved displays (Galaxy Round – stupid name btw),
first to make phablets go mainstream (Galaxy Note – some might argue and claim it was the first phablet, still unkown), first to introduce built-in MP3 player in a mobile phone (No, it never was Apple’s iPod, it was Samsung’s SPH-M2100 1999),
first to introduce commercial LTE device and LTE mobile phone and LTE smartphone (SCH-r900 and the Galaxy Indulge), first to introduce 70 and 90 nano meter DRAMs, first to introduce a CDMA mobile phone (SCH-100), first to introduce 60nm 8GB NAND flash,introduced the world’s fastest (at that time) 667MHZ mobile CPU, developed world’s first TD-SCDMA phone.
Facts are facts. Samsung is an innovative company whether you like it or not.
And first company EVER to copy the Apple Watch
You have nothing to add to this argument which proves my point. Now move along, sheep.
How is that even possible? Samsung’s Gear smartwatch was released in 2013 while Apple’s watch was announced and released in 2014. ROFLMAO!
Samsung started developing their smartwatch as soon as rumors of an Apple Watch began to surface. Let’s stop pretending that never happened.
So Samsung copied a rumor of what Apple is going to release? lol.
I suggest you stop pretending that there weren’t smartwatches way before Samsung’s and Apple’s. If Samsung copied anyone, it’s Sony’s smartwatch that was released in 2012. Apple came last and copied everyone else, as usual.
This isn’t a “world first” for Apple, so “stop pretending” it is.
You can’t see the pictures above? Does Samescum make speckles, coz you need them.
You just listed technology developed by Samsung Semiconductor, which is separate from Samsung Mobile. Thanks for wasting our time.
Nothing valuable to add to this argument, just denial without any proof to back your claim. I got this information from multiple sources, you pulled yours out of your a**. So your comment is irrelevant at this point, cultist.
Oh please. Everything Samsung has done is off the back of Apple. Samsung will remove headphone jacks next year, a year behind and following the lead.
Really? So Samsung made their beautiful large displays off Apple? Apple didn’t get their large display idea from them? Let’s not act like Apple does not copy off of it’s competitors either, no one is innocent here.
Screen size isn’t really something that’s copied or patented, that’s like comparing storage size. If a bit bigger screen is Samsung’s claim to originality, then that speaks for itself. A blatant copy like this though is shameful.
Then stop claiming Samsung ripped off the iPhone’s “color” lol. Hypocrisy is amusing.
They ripped off the iPhone even the packaging and the charger, or have you forgotten the law suit they LOST. The law suit that proved Samescum copied Apple, like they have copied Kodak, Sharp, Pioneer, Sony, Toshiba, Dyson, and the list goes on and on and on and on. Samescum, the company sued by all the tech companies for stealing their IP. Stop defending the crap that samescum innovate. Their innovation team consists of a roll of tracing paper and a Xerox machine. They’ve also been found to have bribed judges, politicians, run cartels on CRT screens, HDD’s, LCD screens, and the list goes on. They’ve been found guilt on several occasions for colluding in price fixing with other companies. Yeah, a real righteous company.
Your a dick. Of course they made large display, that’s their fucking business, they make components for a lot of phones.
I’m a dick? lmao best response ever
Samsung copied the larger screen design from HTC.
First company to remove the headphone jack was Moto, not Apple. But, you cultists live in Apple’s world so you clearly don’t know anything of the “outside world” and it’s expected that you’d believe Apple created everything.
Hope typing that made you feel better. Enjoy your platform of choice
3D touch, true tone display, universal copy/paste, Apple Watch auto-login of MacBook
-3D Touch – Glorified Tap and Hold for option menu (Existed since early days of Android, Apple has perfected it by implementing pressure sensor into the screen…nothing extremely new)
-True Tone Display – Don’t think anyone did that before Apple so I’ll give you that
Universal Copy/Paste – Existed in 3rd party apps before Apple decided to implement it…again no innovation…it already existed on other platforms.
Apple Watch auto login – Existed on Android through Android Watch or Android Phone and you can auto login to a Chromebook…again no innovation, already existed on another platform
1 out of 4
If you think 3D Touch is a glorified touch and hold, you don’t know what it is. iOS has touch and hold as well if you didn’t know that either. No other smartphone has implemented a pressure sensitive screen before Apple (except that obscure Android brand that no one uses and only used it for a Zoom).
People tend to overlook 3rd party apps as it requires extra steps to implement (eg: setup on both devices before use). By implementing it into the software itself, people take notice. I bet a lot of people didn’t know about universal copy and paste before Apple mentioned it in the keynote.
Innovation can also be thought of as improving on previous tech. Apple improves and they do it well.
We always here the same old “Android had it first”. Statistically speaking, they probably did as there are dozens of companies releasing Android phones and only 1 company that releases IOS. Every characteristics that is associated with Android always sounds like it’s all in 1 phone. It’s not. It’s cherry picked from multiple phones to make the platform seem superior. However, Apple always seems to get something ahead of the game first (eg: 3D Touch).
Before the iPhone, a smartphone wasn’t a thing. Capacitative touch screen wasn’t utilised. If we go back to 2007, Samsung, along with the other dozen companies copied the iPhone in the truest sense by making a smartphone with a Capacitative touch screen with apps as well as a full screen phone.
Not every innovation has the same level of impact. Eg: a bigger screen had less of an impact as introducing a 3rd dimension of navigating a phone (ie: the z-axis – down direction)
Innovation can be thought of as improving?
So now we are changing the definition of innovation? lol
This is ridiculous.
Korean are shameless to be successful. If you have ever lived in Korea, then you will understand. They are hard working people but don’t have dignity which is different from Japanese. More like Chinese. Some under educated kids trying to defend for Samsung is really funny. Without Android OS, they are nothing. And they are slave to American. They cannot survive from N. Korea without American. You will only understand about it if you are a programmer or designer, when someone stole yours and claims as they created it. But on the bright side, broke people afford to buy cheap Android phones because of them. All Android phones should be under $300 since they get free Android OS.
“Ripping off Apple’s iconic designs”
Let me laught!!!!