Modern technology looks like a lot of things. The HTC Thunderbolt smartphone
thats proved so popular for Verizon (NYSE: VZ ), for example, looks like a
flashy snuff box from the 19th century that happened to have pitch poured all
over it. The Sony (NYSE: SNE ) PlayStation 3 looks eerily like the George
Foreman Grill. The Nintendo (PINK: NTDOY ) Wii kind of looks like the tissue
boxes Howard Hughes wore on his feet when his mysophobia got really bad. As any
5-year-old is all too happy to point out, most things look like other things.
The ongoing slapfight over patent infringements thats defining the mobile
technology market these days is largely based on everyones little black-or-white
rectangle looking identical to everyone elses. No company appears more intent on
blocking everyone else from selling tiny black rectangles than Apple (NASDAQ:
AAPL ). The company is waging an international litigation war against Samsung
(PINK: SSNLF ) looking to block its line of Galaxy portables from releasing in a
growing number of markets. Samsung, of course, claims Apple is being ridiculous.
So ridiculous, in fact, that Apple has no claim on the look and feel of the iPad
at all because that look was copied from an older source. Did Samsung claim that
Apple copied Microsoft s (NASDAQ: MSFT ) Tablet PC prototype design from 2001?
No, but that date is significant. The Korean technology companys lawyers filed a
declaration with a federal district court in California on Aug. 15 that said
Apples iPad replicates the design of mocked-up tablet computers used in Stanley
Kubricks film adaptation of 2001: A Space Odyssey . The filing even included a
YouTube link to demonstrate. It points to how Dave and another astronaut are
using machines with an overall rectangular shape with a dominant display screen,
narrow borders, a predominantly flat front surface, a flat black surface, (and)
a thin form factor. This is, the filing says, identical to the design featured
in Apples D889 Patent. Thats quite an argument. As silly as Samsungs claim is,
it does demonstrate how absurd Apples claims of patent infringement are
becoming. At the beginning of August, Apple successfully blocked Samsung from
releasing the Galaxy Tab 10.1 tablet in Australia , then later from releasing
the entire Galaxy line (including smartphones) in most countries across the
European Union . The reason is that the Galaxy Tab infringes on 10 patents held
by Apple, particularly those related to the look and feel of the iPad.
Samsungs Galaxy Tab isnt the only tablet thats come under Apples scrutiny. The
company is looking to block the German release of Motorola s (NYSE: MMI ) Xoom
as well, and on the same grounds. Can Apple hold a patent on tablet design that
sports a shiny touchscreen and black bezel? These are, after all, minimalist
devices to begin with. Will competitors really have to start putting rainbows on
their tablets just to keep from getting sued? Its still unclear whether Samsung
will have to recall its entire Galaxy line of devices. In the meantime,
investors should keep an eye out for when Paramount Pictures sues Research in
Motion (NASDAQ: RIMM ) on the grounds that the BlackBerry Curve looks too much
like a communicator from Star Trek . Or when TiVo (NASDAQ: TIVO ) gets sued by
Time Warner (NYSE: TWX ) because its logo looks too much like the televisions
used in The Flintstones . As of this writing, Anthony John Agnello did not own a
position in any of the stocks named here. Follow him on Twitter at
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