“If Apple had really been in the design business then they’d have seen Samsung’s copy as sheer flattery (at least at the trade dress level) and moved on to the next iteration,” Haydn Shaughnessy writes for Forbes. “Design is fashion, a peculiar form of intellectual property that wavers and transforms by the season.”
“Design is not invention. It arises from a common pool of creativity. I happen to think Apple’s icon designs are superlative but no more so than Chris Bangle’s designs for BMW – now take a close look at Opel, which are as similar to BMW as Audi are to Mercedes and not just because Opel designers finally know how to do curves – more importantly they have the technology to bend the metal like BMW does,” Shaughnessy writes. “Apple deserves no kudos for taking the trade dress fight to the courts. Maybe if they were a bunch of losers whose design advantage had been unfairly appropriated and now they had no cash for the kids’ school fees, then there would be a cause for sympathy. But this is is the most valuable company in history. Mr Cook. Move on. Create.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: People who do not grasp the value of trade dress – the marketing treasure expended alone – run the risk of sounding as silly and as ignorant as Haydn Shaughnessy.
Apple created the modern day smartphone and taught the world what an iPhone is. This was not trivial, nor was it free.
The reason there are copies – of anything – is to take for free (steal) that which was paid for by the original maker: The R&D, the salary and perks of the world’s preeminent industrial designer, the education of the public through TV spots and a very expensive network of retail outlets, the hundreds of millions in online, print, television, etc. marketing, everything that goes into a product.
This why a maker of knockoff handbags makes Coach knockoffs, to trade on Coach’s work in order to move their fake wares without investing in the design, marketing, etc. This is why a maker of auto knockoffs makes BMW knockoffs. This is why Samsung knocked off iPhone. Samsung stole Apple’s work and they traded on Apple’s considerable investment. This is why the jury found Samsung guilty.
There is no market for paintings of Campbell’s soup cans without Warhol.
Making knockoffs isn’t flattery, it’s theft. It’s also an expression of companies’ disdain and low opinion of their own customers.
[Thanks to MacDailyNews Reader “Tony Hawat” for the heads up.]
Wow. What a blithering asshole. Enough said about this cretin. English must be his fourth language.
Forbes has been seriously negative about Apple in many articles lately, has anyone else noticed? I don’t know why. Maybe they should disclose financial interests of authors, editors, and owner? Capitalist Tool. Or Capitalist Tools? It has reached the point I just don’t want to read anything from Forbes.
And from the adage if you tell a lie long enough people will believe it is the truth. Samsung sold so many of these things around the world people started to believe the lie that it was their design. And they did this with massive criminal intent by giving away these things for free. Pollute the market with enough of this crap and then it doesn’t become what the original design and
intent was.
“I happen to think Apple’s icon designs are superlative but no more so than Chris Bangle’s designs for BMW – now take a close look at Opel, which are as similar to BMW as Audi are to Mercedes and not just because Opel designers finally know how to do curves – more importantly they have the technology to bend the metal like BMW does”
1- Chris Bangle has now happily left BMW after he ruined their styling and made $70,000 BMWs look like mutant Toyotas.
2- Opel is Government Motors- the German Edition. It only flatters/fools itself if it thinks it competes with Audi, BMW & Mercedes.
3-Audis do not look any more like a Mercedes than any 2 cars with doors a trunk and a hood might. If you cannot see the difference, you need to see an eye doctor.
What kind of efftard wrote this? SameSong’s Fandroid Fake iFones were a direct ripoff of Apple’s IP. If it were a song on YouTube Apple would have issued a take down notice on day 1.
“If Apple had really been in the design business then they’d have seen Samsung’s copy as sheer flattery (at least at the trade dress level) and moved on to the next iteration,” Haydn Shaughnessy writes for Forbes. “Design is fashion, a peculiar form of intellectual property that wavers and transforms by the season.” etc., etc., ……………..
Using his thoughts, I’m going to copy everything he writes and publish it as my own. You have a problem with that Mr. Shaughnessy?
Tough. Move on. Create.
What a rubbish article. Samsung is a copy cat, however they have nothing to match the vibrant Eco system of iTunes and app stores. Copy that Samsung, such a low rate company
Everyone comparing to cars. Have you not noticed how Audi came out with ropelight type LEDs on the front of thier cars two years ago. Have you noticed Mercedes, BMW, and lexus introduced the same look this year? You think BMW is suing? I don’t.
Rope lights have been around, in one form or another, for decades. You mean LED lights.
LED lights have been around since portable, hand held radios.
Putting them on cars and trucks on the dashboard happened a couple decades ago.
Putting them externally on vehicles happened before Audi’s sexy frontal placement.
As for trade dress, no car company copied Audi’s LED light designs.
You lose troll.
Haydn Shaughnessy is not an artist.. he doesn’t even have an idea what the word design mean..
Like Apple has never copied anyone. From copying MS with Numbers a spreadsheet program… They copied Adobe with arrange layers (send to back, etc.)… They copied NEC who invented the laptop in 1989… They copied the LG Prada phone with the iPhone… Nokia invented the app store in 2005… They copied Sony with a camera on a cell phone… They copied Samsung with sending photos by text message and background music on a phone… Nokia invented the internal cell phone antennae… Xerox invented the GUI… On and on.
Microsoft copied another company to get Excel. Excel was made for the first Mac.
Every laptop for sale today is a copy of an Apple Laptop design.
Apple has iPhone designs, working models and patents that all predate the LG Prada.
There were App stores in every computer shop on the planet before 2005.
Apple, with Kodak, invented digital photography and the digital camera.
Photos, with a text message, have been sent since shortly after Al Gore invented the internet.
iPhones have external antennas.
Actually, the GUI and the mouse were invented about 10 years before Xerox started working on it.
You lose Troll.
Well this guy is an ass. I am ashamed to even be on the same planet as him. Time to cancel my Forbes subscription since they have idiots writing for them
I disagree. Apple’s victory is is a judgement against laziness. Don’t just sit there and let Apple do all the chasing and killing, then waltz in for dinner.
Seriously, have you driven a car with a built-in GPS lately? The function and interface would make a grown man cry. We had to depend on our IPhones instead and I can’t wait to see what Apple will do with the new Maps app coming soon.
Think big picture and you will see why it is good for Apple to win.
Following a design trend and blatant copying are two entirely different things. Samsung blatantly copied Apple’s designs, and even Google saw what was happening and told Samsung to stop.
Plus, it wasn’t just hardware designs. Samsung was found to have WILLINGLY copied aspects of iOS that Apple had received patents for.
This guy’s a moron. Yes, Apple ushered in the era of large screened touch-operated mobile phone/computers. So everyone started using a 3.5″ screen (or larger) for their phone with touch input. Nothing wrong with that, except for when they had to copy Apple’s technology to make it happen.