Samsung Cites '2001: A Space Odyssey' In Apple Patent Case

By Don Clark of the Wall Street Journal.

If something about Apple's iPad had a back-to-the-future vibe to it, court documents by Samsung assert one explanation: the classic science-fiction film "2001: A Space Odyssey."

The Korean electronics giant is in a patent war with Apple, which among other things has accused Samsung of infringing a patent on the basic design of the iPad. One of the ways defendants respond to such charges is by trying to get a judge to declare a patent invalid, often by citing earlier inventions to make a case the patent should never have been granted.

Samsung, along with a motion that is still under seal, on Monday filed a declaration in federal court in San Jose, Calif., by a lawyer for the company suggesting that the basic design of the iPad was already envisioned by such popular works as Stanley Kubrick's seminal movie, which came out in 1968.

"In a clip from that film lasting about one minute, two astronauts are eating and at the same time using personal tablet computers," the lawyer wrote, adding a Web link for watching the film on YouTube. As with the design claimed by Apple's patent, "the tablet disclosed in the clip has an overall rectangular shape with a dominant display screen, narrow borders, a predominately flat front surface, a flat back surface (which is evident because the tablets are lying flat on the table's surface), and a thin form factor."

The Samsung filings, which include a still picture from the film, were noted earlier by Florian Mueller, who writes a blog called Foss Patents that tracks intellectual-property battles.

Read the entire post at the Wall Street Journal.

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Comments

[Shawn Carr]

11:36 AM on 08/25/2011

this doesn't make sense, there are tons of ipad type devices its a freaking square screen... that would be like someone patenting a flip phone and then only that one company can make flip phones...which didn't happen. there are tons of different companies that made flip phones when they were the fad...patents are stupid, copy writes are stupid everyone is stupid...stupid stupid.

[PathofTotality]

09:32 AM on 08/25/2011

In one of the Isaac Asimov stories involving Elijah Bailey and R. Daneel Olivaw (The Naked Sun I think), there is a small part where one of the characters is using a device for notes / information. The decription of the device matches what used to be a Palm Pilot right down to the small stylus that was stored on the side. The story was released in 1957. If corporations wnat to site old Sci-Fi movies / stories as arguments for patent infringment (or what ever) then there are going to be problems. In addition to that, if this becomes common, then the author of the stories better get a lot of money since it is their idea.

[evilgoogleman]

07:14 AM on 08/25/2011

While this might be kind of a joke (apple having a patent on a flat touch screen computer). it's no joke that they will most likely win. We are getting to a point where big corporations will own EVERY thing and idea, unless you have 100 lawyers on retainer, they will win most of the time. Notice it's one huge company suing another. Not you or I would stand a chance, no matter how correct we might be.

Got to love capitalism.

[evilgoogleman]

07:16 AM on 08/25/2011

Apple will most likely win, that is what I meant.

[sculptor]

07:49 PM on 08/24/2011

I think iPple is evil to patent things like the shape of its phone.

[scud420]

07:46 PM on 08/24/2011

why is this news?

[scud420]

07:46 PM on 08/24/2011

who cares?

[scud420]

07:45 PM on 08/24/2011

OSX was the first MMORPG.

[tooncesrocks]

07:39 PM on 08/24/2011

pretty clever legal move I think :P

[AmAxO]

06:23 PM on 08/24/2011

Another excuse for HP to talk about Apple's products. It's becoming like an art.

[MichaelMcKLA]

05:16 PM on 08/24/2011

I seem to recall there were tablet computers around before the iPad. Is that right or wrong?

[VoteObama2012]

06:53 PM on 08/24/2011

The GRiDPAD line were one of the earliest tablet style computers. One of the earliest was the GRiDPAD 2050SL. They had a modified MS-DOS operating system designed to work with a pen. They launched in 1992, and you can currently buy them through vintage computer stores for anything between $25 and $100

http://www.androidtabletfanatic.com/android-tablet-news/16-old-skool-tablets-rocking-it-before-the-ipad/

[scud420]

07:43 PM on 08/24/2011

lies.

[scud420]

07:42 PM on 08/24/2011

Wrong. There was no such thing.

[Eric Bray]

03:22 PM on 08/24/2011

Here are scenes from the "Star Trek" series that also has 'Tablets'; so Apple is way off base saying that it was their original idea!!

1.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QyEYufFVUuI
2.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB-FQZAEKF0&NR=1
3.) http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_n7ZyS_g0DQ

Didn't Apple try the claim the same thing with the 'mouse' & 'GUI' to try and stop "Microsoft Windows" until it was determined that Xerox held the patients and had released the technology to the "Public Domain"?

Didn't the same thing happen with the flip-up cell phone until somebody brought up the flip-up communicators they had on the original "Star Trek" and all the law suites just went away?

[Kittyburger]

04:11 PM on 08/24/2011

Google (through their acquisition of Motorola Mobility) now holds the patents to clamshell-style cellphones.

[gurloc]

03:19 PM on 08/24/2011

According to Steve Jobs aren't Apple's designs "timeless"? In which case Apple will now launch retroactive lawsuits against the estate of Stanley Kubrick.

The real problem are the ridiculous overly broad patents that are being granted. A flat rectangle has been the standard for information viewing since the invention of the clay tablet in the bronze age. Patenting the device is one thing, but trying to make a form factor argument on something that basic a shape shouldn't be allowed.

[NightflyLester]

03:50 PM on 08/24/2011

In addition to the "2001" film clip, there's also a theater poster for the film with artwork that shows an astronaut on the surface of the moon using a tablet device.

[Edna Crabapple]

03:19 PM on 08/24/2011

Apple has become nothing but a bully with very deep pockets and very good lawyers.

[MichaelMcKLA]

05:17 PM on 08/24/2011

Every corporation that becomes wildly successful becomes a bully.

[Edna Crabapple]

05:46 PM on 08/24/2011

You can't deny that. LOL

[tpondering]

02:50 PM on 08/24/2011

Crap. Now I can't patent that teleportation device I invented in my garage. Guess I will just use it to get to work. No point in sharing it if I can't be sure I will get all the dough. I don't want to share with Roddenberry's family.

[Edna Crabapple]

03:15 PM on 08/24/2011

LOL
I'm still waiting for someone to invent a replicator so I don't have to cook anymore... I really hate to cook... ;-)

[PhillyKing]

04:10 PM on 08/24/2011

to replicate the food or you?? cause the second you might hate cooking as well...lol

[DRaymond]

04:29 PM on 08/24/2011

the difference is that in the Apple/Samsung case Apple is claiming that Samsung copied the design not the technology.  In other words Apple is saying that Samsung copied Apple's appearance.

[obamavet]

02:44 PM on 08/24/2011

Let's see, Jules Vern invented Scuba tanks, the submarine, and spear guns. Other science fiction writers invented rockets, lasers, bionic humans, smart communications devices. Does that mean Samsung can copy existing technology by claiming that General Dynamics stole their ideas from Jules Vern? Really?

[jgeurian21]

03:31 PM on 08/24/2011

Pretty much. More of a problem with patent law than anything else. Apple doodles on a piece of paper, sends it to the patent office and then controls the rights. But that is not just Apple; it is everyone. Sad state really, but I am guessing if the patent system existed during Vern's time he would have done the same with scuba tanks.

[No Yards]

11:53 AM on 08/25/2011

If patents are to be awarded on things other than operational inventions, then Vern has prior art claims on the design elements (not the operational elements) of the Scuba tanks, the submarine, and spear guns.

May sound silly to most, but no sillier than Apple being allowed to patent the rectangle.

Just shows how out of control and silly the patent system has become.