Come on. Samsung clearly didn't even TRY to distinguish their product, here. This is about as obvious as it gets.
I don't think it's reasonable that a simple silhouette of a phone, used as an icon to represent a phone, is trademarkable. The color is more interesting, until you look at wikipedia and see that mobile phones were using almost the exact same iconography -- phone silhouette over light green background -- at least as far back as 1989:
Nokia Mobira Cityman
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nokia#First_mobile_phones
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Nokia_150_and_nokia_1100.j...
The only difference is that the icon has been rotated and now has a shorter aspect ratio. Also the silhouette is now white instead of black.
Trademarks are an interesting case, though. You can trademark common ideas, especially if you're the first one to get the trademark for that specific use. They're extremely focused in that they can only be used in a specific way. MS' trademarks on Windows and Word, for example, only apply to operating systems and word processors.
Or do you think someone else is chiefly responsible?
Jobs built a great team, and of course he didn't do it all himself, but he sure makes one hell of a great figurehead. :)
Samsung's design isn't just derivative, it's more or less a straight copy. Microsoft illustrates that there's no necessity built into the medium that requires an iOS-like interface.
Apple may forever be chasing "look and feel" violations in vain, but I think they have a point when they say that Samsung's interface is basically just a rip off.
A grid of icons isn't exactly new. Palm did it before Apple. Windows 3.11 before Palm.
Apple's Newton OS came three years before Palm's Pilot. Apple's Mac System came 8 years before Windows 3.11. They all used grids of icons, it's part of the desktop metaphor. If that were the only thing Samsung copied, I doubt they would be getting sued now.
HTC also doesn't use Google's stock Android UI. It uses its own Sense UI [2], which it also put on BREW and Windows Mobile phones.
Other Android handset makers also created their own custom UIs. Motorola has Motoblur [3], SonyEricsson has the 'UX' platform [4].
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Touchwiz
[2] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/HTC_Sense
[3] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Motoblur
[4] http://www.xperiax10.net/2009/11/18/se-launches-nexus-ux-pla...
Yeah, there there's too much of a difference (IMO), especially as the device itself looks substantially different. Android, I think, looks plenty different to avoid the suit - the Galaxy S in particular, though, doesn't. Not sure what their aim is there.
(Messaging, browser, and the keyboard shading also seem to reflect much more iPhone than stock Android.)