Apple and Samsung are embroiled in a bitter legal tussle. Apple accuses Samsung of having infringed its iPhone and iPad design patents, where Samsung vehemently denies the charges.To prove its case in the court, Apple had to reveal the designs of some early iPhone and iPad prototypes.
The prototypes are very interesting in that none of them made it out of Apple Labs and its the first time they are being viewed publicly. From the look of prototypes, it is evident that Apple had been toying around with many different iPhone designs before coming up with the final one.
Interestingly, one of the designs of these prototypes has a Sony label on it. This, analysts say, can be very cleverly used by Samsung in the court during the next hearing. Samsung can allege that Apple’s iPhone design is not true at all and that it was derivative. This way, Samsung can weaken Apple’s claim of iPhone patent infringements.
According to the court documents Apple filed, some of the earlier prototypes had many cool features which were eventually scrapped. For instance, an iPhone prototype featured a half-touchscreen display, and some iPad prototypes had built-in kickstand.
Apple is currently suing Samsung for a whopping $2.5 billion in damages over alleged patent infringement. Both companies are to appear before the court in California next week, where the whole battle is expected to heat up a little more. While we don’t expect this to end any time soon, at least it all got a little interesting.
Courtesy: The Verge
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