Samsung should be mocked publicly and shamed for taking such a loser's approach in ripping things off. If I wrote a story about a boy wizard called "Henry Porter", and had similar books like "Magicians Rock" and "Captive of Azitan", I'd be widely panned as just ripping off JK Rowling. But, it wouldn't be illegal.
So, a lot of folks feel like Samsung should be humiliated, that they shouldn't just ripoff designs, etc. But we also acknowledge that it should not be illegal, that if they want to make me-too products, that's fine. It's not like they were actually tricking people into thinking "yes, this is an Apple iPhone, and not a Samsung phone".
A part of me wants Samsung to get fines, just because I'm so personally pissed off with how bad they made Android look (e.g. the keyboard, the crappy backgrounds on icons), but overall, for society, we're worse off if we allow them to be punished for having poor taste.
Interesting point, but this is where people seem to disagree. At college plagiarism is expressly forbidden. It's seen as cheating to attempt to pass off someone else's work, or a close copy, as your own. It can lead to expulsion. And so it should. Samsung have done this, and appear to be continuing to do so. What makes it worse to me isn't the fact that they are attempting to mimick Apple's aesthetic to confuse, it's the liberal use of their design language with minor tweaks and the blatant denial from all and sundry that copying has taken place. It's the emporers new clothes!
Should it be illegal? That depends. The level that Samsung take things to should be. That said, their is nothing inherently wrong with being informed by other aesthetics when designing the look and feel of a product and that is where the line blurs.
Your comment seems reasonable at first sight. However, your argument presumes there being an "Apple aesthetic."
Rounded rectangles, bounce-back, swipe to unlock are refinements on what existed already. That does not imply they are novel. Apple, really is standing on the shoulders of giants(or-otherwise.)
Refinements and a reality distortion field does not an
aesthetic make.
Wouldn't be too sure of that. There's a world of fan-fiction (canon and otherwise) that exists for Harry Potter. One (rather excellent one) by HN frequenter less-wrong: http://www.fanfiction.net/u/2269863/Less_Wrong.
So, a lot of folks feel like Samsung should be humiliated, that they shouldn't just ripoff designs, etc. But we also acknowledge that it should not be illegal, that if they want to make me-too products, that's fine. It's not like they were actually tricking people into thinking "yes, this is an Apple iPhone, and not a Samsung phone".
A part of me wants Samsung to get fines, just because I'm so personally pissed off with how bad they made Android look (e.g. the keyboard, the crappy backgrounds on icons), but overall, for society, we're worse off if we allow them to be punished for having poor taste.