Dutch news website WebWereld.nl investigated the claim that Apple supplied the German court with tampered evidence, and their research is pretty self-explanatory. I don’t have the time to translate the article for you, but the images speak about ten thousands words; Apple has changed the aspect ratio of the Galaxy Tab 10.1 in a side-by-side comparison (while also showing Android’s application drawer open instead of showing the home screen, but the article doesn’t mention that). Come on, Apple. Update: As Gusar notes, Apple also Photoshopped the Samsung logo off the bezel. Real classy, Apple.
That’s really cheesy and shows yet again how Apple’s business & legal tactics today are in no way better than Microsoft’s in the 1990s era.
I feel ashamed as a German citizen that a German court apparently fell for this. Something like this could not slip through if the other party would be heard.
Generally, isn’t tampering with evidence a Really Big Deal(tm) generally? (well, at least when little folks are involved)
If it proves to be the case, shouldn’t we in turn expect, say, some major repercussions for Apple?…
If that makes easer for you, well, German courts did not fell for this, a flaw in the law forced them do abide without even actually judging a case first, without even a chance for Samsung to defend itself. Its different.
In essence Apple found a way to void the due process in German.
Wtf!? Can you please elaborate on this or point to some article about that?
It’s in the presently second-from-top article on the main page, on this site…
“Apple chose D~A 1/4 sseldorf specifically because of how injunctions work in Germany” (well, and section before it) http://www.osnews.com/story/25056/The_Community_Design_and_you_Thou…
I feel ashamed that people fall for silly inaccurate report because it feeds their prejudices.
Apple’s evidentiary submission is not limited to the inaccurate comparison photo, as Apple did also offer a number of other exhibits in support of its case, including some showing actual side-by-side photos of the iPad 2 and Galaxy Tab 10.1 rather than just promotional images. Consequently, it stands to reason that the judge’s decision was not based entirely on the flawed comparison.
If you look at Apple^aEURTMs full complaint, which is here
http://www.scribd.com/doc/61993811/10-08-04-Apple-Motion-for-EU-Wid…
it includes several actual photographs of the iPad and Galaxy Tab side-by-side.
Exactly, if you see page 39, you’ll see both products compared in accurate dimentions.
Is it me or is the Samsung logo removed on most comparison photos, including the one you’ve mentioned? Isn’t it tampering?
With that big silver “Samsung” it would be harder to mix up the devices…
Doesn’t matter. Courts don’t like tampering with evidence, wheter it is crucial or just one small bit. Trying to defend this just shows how weak you are to the power of the rdf.
Any tampering is still tampering. The fact that there is more accurate photos does not excuse the false one.
It can be looked at as an intent to deceive the court.
You do not excuse a murderer just because they are also generous in charities.
The real question is if the picture was a deliberate attempt to deceive, and it seems difficult to think it isn’t. You don’t use internet pictures in these things, you use evidence you make yourself. Staged photos to make it fit your case better are common, but altering photos is a no no.
I took a look at the document (http://www.scribd.com/doc/61993811/10-08-04-Apple-Motion-for-EU-Wid…)
The picture that people focus so much on here is the last of a series of 4 consecutive picture comparisons. The text that follows up those exhibits shows the first 3 are clearly focusing on the external design (borders, flat – centered front panel, etc.) while that the last picture comparison focus on the interface & behavior as a tablet :
vi) wenn das Produkt eingeschaltet ist, farbige Icons innerhalb des Displays.
That means “vi) if the product is switched on, colored icons within the display.” (Google Translate !)
My read : Apple is saying, before the iPad came out, prior existing tablets where not showing instant on colored desktop with icons. Obviously hinting that existing tablets at the time were showing text, black & white (–> BIOS from Windows tablet PCs).
Few paragraphs later, Apple argues it’s not the first time Samsung copied it by taking the example of the iPhone 3GS and explains why this time the courts should do something about it.
Why I personally think Samsung has really tried hard to copy paste Apple ? just look at the model prior the Galaxy S (Galaxy i7500), they look so different you wonder from where it took its design from. Are you just so blindly against Apple not to see it ? Just because Samsung uses Android for its phones & tablets that people at OSAlert just support them like they’re all innocent of any wrongdoing.
http://mobile.osnews.com/img/6146/palmos1.png
That’s older than the iPad (or iPhone, for that matter).
Besides: Android devices don’t usually boot into the app launcher. That’s a separate click (something that Apple conveniently forgets when comparing Apple’s home screen to Android’s $somethingElse)
Edited 2011-08-16 08:43 UTC
…and if you don’t take the separate click into account, every single Nokia phone running s40 that has been released before the iPhone (or the SE, LG, Motorola and Samsung equivalents for that matter) is a case of prior art, because they *all* display a grid menu after a click on the home screen.
http://www.scribd.com/doc/61993811/10-08-04-Apple-Motion-for-EU-Wid…
That file also included the edited image of Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 on pp. 28. Note different dimension ratio of Galaxy compared to Apple IPad 2 and the deliberate attempt to match to the latter with a clever photo-shooting. Clearly a case of tampered evidence without the need to read the full details with a translation.
Edited 2011-08-16 00:04 UTC
Actually, I don’t think that’s even a Galaxy in the shot on page 28 – it’s completely the wrong shape, and looks very different from the other photos.
But yeah, the preceding pages, all of the photos are taken at different angles that make the shape of the devices look more similar than they really are.
I was wondering how fanboys would spin this. Nicely done.
With the Samsung logo photoshopped out, and, considering how similar the form factors *look*, a work on perspective that, while not necessarily tampering per se, is truly a work of art. Right.
That or they’re showing photographs of pre-release models from Samsung, which were indeed closer to iPads.
Edited 2011-08-16 07:29 UTC
Sorry, but tampering with ANY of the evidence renders all of it suspect.
They also removed the “Samsung” logo from the bezel.
And the open app-drawer thing is an old trick, used already with Galaxy S vs. iPhone comparisons.
So did Engadget photoshop’d their pictures too?
http://www.engadget.com/2011/06/08/samsung-galaxy-tab-10-1-review/
No idea. But if I go here, there’s clearly the logo: http://www.amazon.de/Samsung-Touchscreen-Android-interner-Speicher/…
So what’s going on here? Are the official pics wrong? Or are the official pics correct and Engadget as well as Apple are using pre-release models which didn’t have the logo?
Whatever the case with the logo, the pic in Apple’s evidence is clearly ‘shopped, that doesn’t change. And all the other photographs are using what Neolander describes a few comments up: clever angles to make the Tab appear more similar to the iPad. When they’re side-by-side on page 39, the different aspects are very clear. As I’m sure they would be if you saw the thing yourself in real life.
Edited 2011-08-16 10:24 UTC
I wasn’t able to find a single picture on the net for Samsung without logo, including live visit of my local gadget shop. It was there, the logo.
Now, I still can’t be sure who’s right or who’s wrong, but I’m getting sick and tired of hearing about patents, laws, court cases, etc.
Instead, I want to be able to like the actual product, but honestly, they all look the same to me? Same shape, same black border, same home screen, same way of arranging icons, there’s an OS beneath, working with some apps …
But, behold – it’s the same with refrigerators, TV, vacuum cleaners, phones, screen projectors, etc? What’s going on, really, what’s wrong?
Earning money and dominating the stock exchange through court cases, patents and other legal tricks, or actually listen to your customers and fighting for them?
This isn’t an Apple rant – it’s a general one.
Again, stop the court cases – it’s extremely annoying.
EDIT: I promised to myself a while ago not to login again here, as there’s a lot of Apple vs. Android trolls, and it was very boring, but this really pissed me off. Logging off again.
Edited 2011-08-16 10:58 UTC
I have a galaxy tab II in my hands: no logo. My guess is that it is on the plastic cover that the device comes with. I haven’t gotten it out of the box myself, so I can’t be positive.
in 3..2….1
stating just how much android sucks, how much better the ipad is over any android tablet currently on the market. blah blah blah.
I’m sorry, after reading over OSAlert comments on all of the apple versus samsung case stories that are on here lately I’m tired of reading just how great the ipad is. I’ve got one at work that our department uses for some stuff, and I’ll tell you this I’d rather use my 8″ android tablet than that ipad. the safari web browser doesn’t do what I need it to do which is open tickets in a frame on our company website. Granted the built in web browser for android doesn’t work either, but using the mozilla firefox for android app I’m able to get the job done.
Edited 2011-08-15 14:11 UTC
It’s always fascinating watching smarmy fanboy-prognosticators like yourself and the drooling fanboys themselves battle to see who can post first.
So far I’ve been pleasantly suprised by the lack of apple fanboy comments on this topic. My general point is that here lately on OSAlert almost every single apple vs. samsung topic has had people commenting on them saying the same tired “Ipads are teh number 1 and android sucks”
I’m glad to see that even the apple users posting on this topic are saying that if apple altered the images that they shouldn’t be allowed to use them as evidence.
so if I stepped on anyone’s toes, sorry that wasn’t my intent.
You know, it’s funny…I frequent this site daily, yet I haven’t seen the overflow of Apple apologists you claim to see. In fact, the overwhelming sentiment lately seems to be “Apple sucks for this dastardly shit” even from their admitted fans and former fans. Yeah, there are one or two fanboy holdouts, but they are quickly modded down and ignored as background noise.
Could it be that you are looking for a fight where there is none?
It’s not just this one topic, there is a general loathing of Apple among OSAlert readers and has been for a while. Just look at how many times Thom has been attacked for supposedly being an Apple fanboy despite overwhelming evidence to the contrary. If anything I’d say the Apple fanboy is an endangered species around here.
Then you have people like me who still love the Apple OSes and even some of the hardware, but despise the company for shit like this. I’m not alone in that sentiment either.
No problem here, I just wanted to share my viewpoint.
Couldn’t agree more.
U mad bro?
Don’t forget the half-baked conspiracy theories about Rubin having stolen iOS when he was on Apple’s board, Dennis Nedry-style (because CEOs are usually the ones who carry out corporate espionage, after all…). Or the random, desperate accusations that Thom is only reporting on this because of some personal vendetta against Apple. Or the usual non-sequitur talking points copy-pasted from Gruber and his fellow brain donors.
Uh oh, I hope you’re prepared to face the damning accusation that you’re a (gasp) Apple hater. Amusingly enough, that phrase perfectly illustrates the intellectual laziness of most iFanboys: it was adopted entierely because it was too easy to mis-use the old label of “anti-Apple” (and look like an illiterate moron in the process). Whenever I saw an iFanboy call someone “an anti-Apple,” I could only assume that they were referring to Apples composed of anti-particles.
Andy Rubin on Apple’s board, stealing iOS secrets? Never heard that rumor, but I guess anyone is allowed to make things up to attack Apple these days.
You’re right, it was Eric Schmidt I was thinking of. These days, it’s hard to keep track of everyone that Apple apologists are directing baseless accusations against.
Here, let me fix that for you:
http://www.google.ca/search?q=jennimc+schmidt+site%3Aosnews.com
Ah, yes Jenni didn’t like Google and like others with the same opinion she got banned from the site.
Holy eff!
Whatever you Apple fans are smoking… I really, really want some. Because that is some trip you’re on.
Others, you say ?
The only other ban which I know of on this website, save for ad bot nuking, is mrhasbean. And the problem with him was one of trolling, lies, considering personal speculation as facts, and consistent ad hominem attacks.
You can see the relevant thread here : http://www.osnews.com/thread?472706 and in particular this post : http://www.osnews.com/thread?472718
Paranoid much ?
I mean, really, how full of yourself do you have to be to think that you’d get away with this?
Apple should do something better than suing companies like improving the iTunes Store or something.
It’s worse than that.
They *cheat* while suing concurrents in order to NOT have to improve too much their next products.
Okay, they also hurt badly their own image.
And as many others I’m glad to make their last ugly moves well known. This image alone shows way too well how Apple is going wrong. When you have so much money that you basicly hand over your own brain to lawyers and they did *that*, you’re in a bad situation.
Congratulations, Apple.
Again.
The “update” link is wrong.
Dang ! So how accurate is that original post ?
How can you be sure that this isn’t a hoax ??
You all seem pretty quick to judge and condemn Apple.
Also, how much more likely is it that some unethical advertiser (neither Samsung nor Apple) did make those changes ? I mean … what’s the original source for the images ?
I often see online ads for free iPads, iPhones, and other devices with the wrong aspect ratios. Sure, those websites are scam, but they still display materials much similar to the incriminated ones.
Couldn’t Apple have taken a screen capture from one of those ads ?
well … anyways … personally I see nothing convincing there and I’ll just wait and trust the court of law and its experts to study the evidence and proceed accordingly.
Presuming what we’re seeing is the material actually submitted to the court by Apple (or accurate reproductions thereof)…very.
If it is we’ll know soon enough.
I would hope Apple is more professional than that. Then again, obviously that might not be the case.
Samsung lawyers claimed on day one the pictures were editted, but for reasons unknown didn’t follow it up with any evidence or even a mention on day two.
Thom, the Apple hater/device owner, reported what happened on day one, but not day two.
Webwereld isn’t the most accurate tech news site either.
But hey, Thoms promotes any anti-Apple news to absolute truth and any pro-Apple news as lies, so this has to be true too.
http://www.osnews.com/comments/25057
So much for factual accuracy on your side…
I don’t see him mentioning Samsung’s lawyers “forgot” about their day one claim. They clearly dropped it for some reason, probabbly because it wasn’t going to hold, yet Thom keeps acting like it’s already a proven fact.
Sir, hats off. It’s bold of you to say that the claim wasn’t going to hold in the comments of an article which shows pretty clearly that Apple *did* tamper with evidence.
Besides, not talking about something doesn’t equate forgetting it, and journalists are not asked to report anything that *hasn’t* happened during a case. Samsung’s lawyer could well think that the evidence had indeed been tampered with, but that the “prior art” defense remained the simplest one.
The case is about if the Galaxy Tab looks too much like an iPad. For this reason Samsung’s lawyers suggested on day one Apple’s evidence was altered. If you can prove this it should score a lot of points with the judge.
On day one Thom brought this news, although he promoted the suggestion to fact and does so again in this article.
However on day two Samsung’s lawyers made no further mention of this.
Why didn’t they do this? Why not present prior art AND evidence tempering? They’d be very bad lawyers if they presented their client like this and not using everything they can find to their advantage. It’s their job to put all evidence, facts and even fiction on the table to score a victory for their client.
The only reason they didn’t present this in their defense would be if it was a disadvantage to do so. Like when Apple’s lawyers told them what’s up with these pictures.
Google around, which Thom didn’t, and you’ll find some (possible) explanations.
If Samsung’s lawyers just didn’t bother to mention this to the judge this is equally stupid as photoshopping evidence, knowing the other party will notice this for sure.
As it stands now “willful tempering evidence” is not proven and not a fact.
One may argue that it is more cynicism towards the industry as a whole than Apple themself.
Edited 2011-08-15 23:03 UTC
“hater”? That sounds like something you’d read in the youtube comments of a tween girl defending Justin Beiber.
But hey, it’s good to see that iFanboys have finally abandoned the pretension that Apple’s products are for the refined, intelligent, and cultured elite.
“hater”? That sounds like something you’d read in the youtube comments of a tween girl defending Justin Beiber.
I don’t watch those videos, but I believe you.
But hey, it’s good to see that iFanboys have finally abandoned the pretension that Apple’s products are for the refined, intelligent, and cultured elite.
In time all your self made misconceptions will be resolved.
That’s okay, I can certainly see how you would have difficulty seeing humor in the ramblings of self-deluded fanchildren.
Ah, how soon you forget Apple’s “Think Different” era, back when the iFanboys were constantly copy-pasting idiotic Roger Ebert quotes about how “all creative people” used Macs (when they weren’t prattling on about Fitt’s Law and vague, undefined BS like “elegance”).
You should take pity on them. They think that Apple loves them rather than just wanting to soak them out of as much cash as possible.
Sure. Apple has always been so honest.
http://i.imgur.com/huWri.jpg
Edited 2011-08-15 17:56 UTC
I’m a very happy owner of plenty of Apple products. I like them.
That being said, this pursuit of Samsung seems ridiculous to me. I see some superficial similarities, but there’s tons of prior art on everything Apple does. Apple doesn’t innovate as much as they just polish off their products really well. You can’t patent just doing a cleaner job.
And if they’re committing perjury, they should be slapped really really hard. Even in the unlikely event that it’s unintentional, they should be slammed for not doing their homework.
Apple needs to get off this Android-chasing and just compete on merit. If some competitor takes away some market share, they just have to work harder. Sheesh!
It is crystal clear (for anyone who actually uses his brain) that Apple is a corporation based on:
1- Lies (applecare, antenagate, security issues)
2- Theft (design, technology, etc)
3- Money grabbing
There fore expectations should be kept at appropriate level, as in expect the worse possible ethics from Apple! Nuff said
Don’t be so negative. Apple’s greatest strength is their marketing and their branding. It’s powerful and they didn’t build it up overnight.
A serious question is: how much will all these shenanigans hurt their strength? As evil as google may be with their data gathering, ad network hogging, etc, apple is pulicly making them out to look like choir boys in comparison.
And a more serious question: what insanely talented people would *want* to work for Apple knowing that they are embracing evil in this fasion? (not all are slaves to $$$)
Edited 2011-08-16 00:01 UTC
Apple’s greatest strength is their marketing and their branding.
In other words, their hard- and software is floating on idealized fluff from the marketroids? I don’t know if Apple would be thrilled by this characterization.
You are trying to counter negativism with a wholesale dismissal of their products intrinsic value. It’s all marketing is not a positive message.
Not that I disagree. I’m capable of matching hardware and software myself, so I don’t need Apple’s handholding to have a “superior experience”. That is why I see them as a tad expensive and a little too markety considering they sell midrange hardware with just another *Nix for a premium.
I think it looks like apple photoshopped the Galaxy’s screen onto an iPad and photoshopped out the home button and changed the webcam position. Look closely at the bezel.
http://blog.webwereld.nl/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/screenshot-page…
http://cdn.devicemag.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/03/samsung-galaxy-…
http://www.dropbox.com/static/images/ipad_splash.png
Personally, I don’t see what the fuss is about. Yes they look similar. But I don’t see any feature present in the iPad that isn’t also present in other older devices. Icon layout looks like a throw back from the Palm days. Physically, they are both 10 inch tablets using the same type of technology. Since Apple didn’t invent the hardware, I can’t see where they have a right to claim ownership of the design. The company making the screens will probably sell them to anyone. Cameras are in different locations. Apple’s has a button on the front. I am just not seeing it.
Where are all the regular Apple fans today? All of a sudden Apple has a little egg on its face, they don’t want to talk about it any more?
Well, most Apple users don’t like Google and if they voice that opinion they get banned from this site. So there aren’t many left.
I use Apple products every day , at work and at home, but I will never be a a fanboy. Not every person who uses an Apple product is a “fanboy”, anymore than every person that uses Windows is a Microsoft fanboy. I’m a fan of what works for me, and that’s Apple, sometimes. But if they did indeed alter evidence then I hope they suffer the full penalties due under law. But for once, it would be nice if people argued the merits of a subject instead of calling each other names, reacting in ways they’ve done so many times it’s second nature now. This forum seems to be turning into the US Government.
This article is about showing the dark side of Apple attempting to destroy competitions with litigation. Outside OSAlert and other informative websites, many people are not aware about negative impacts of patents used as weapon to stifle innovations and evolution in IT world.
It is very important to keep readers informed about the sad reality related to anti-competitive behaviour of most larger companies (in this case Apple), not to sideline crucial part that are patent laws affecting technologies, developers ,and consumers.
Edited 2011-08-16 00:55 UTC
But I think you are missing my point; I have no issue with the article , only the immediate prediction by some of Apple “fanboys” immediately rejecting the news itself. I think it would be nice to just not hear “fanboy” for a while, and instead argue the MERITS of an article, instead of calling people names ( and I’m talking about both sides, not just one or the other). How easy is it to denigrate someones opinion because you’ve pre-classified them before they can say something? That smacks of intellectual laziness to me.
There is often only one optimum way to design a product. That is why most motorcycle helmets, tennis racquets, small hatchback cars, divers watches, refrigerators etc look similar. It stands to reason that all tablet practical computers are likely to have a similar design.
the court in d~A 1/4 sseldorf has revoked it’s ruling!
the sales-ban is now limited to germany only!
http://www.golem.de/1108/85764.html