Samsung: We Had Nothing To Do With Those Smart Cover Rip-Off Cases

Those shameless Smart Cover rip-off cases for the Galaxy Tab 10.1? Samsung wants everyone to know that despite the presence of their official certification logo, they had nothing to do with copying Apple’s designs… well, this time.

In a statement, Samsung said:

As a general practice, Samsung Electronics reviews and approves all accessories produced by partners before they are given the “Designed for Samsung Mobile” mark.

In this case, approval was not given to Anymode for the accessory to feature this official designation. We are working with Anymode to address this oversight and the product has already been removed from the Anymode sales website. The product has not been sold.

If Samsung’s telling the truth here, it seems like much ballyhoo about nothing. Yes, Anymode’s Smart Cases were shameless, but according to Samsung, this is an issue of an accessory maker slapping a “Designed for Samsung Mobile!” sticker on their official product images without actually going through the certification process.

That’s a problem Apple is probably sympathetic to: third-party accessory makers have been cheating on the “Made for iPod” or “Made for iPhone” certification process for years in order to give their products a glimmer of official Cupertino endorsement.

Even so, is it any wonder that rip-off accessory makers are flocking to Samsung, when they have made billions ripping off Apple’s designs?

[via Electronista]

John Brownlee

John Brownlee is a writer for Fast Company, and a contributing writer here at CoM. He has also written for Wired, Playboy, Boing Boing, Popular Mechanics, VentureBeat, and Gizmodo. He lives in Boston with his wife and two parakeets. You can follow him here on Twitter.