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A comment on Apple's suggestions to Samsung to work-around its iPhone and iPad design patents. Parent comment

Re:Apple's suggestions to Samsung to work-around its iPhone ... by nirvana on Saturday December 03, 2011 @03:00PM (#3308636)
There's a difference between design patents and utility patents.

Design patents are what stop you from making and selling your own counterfeit Mercedes or BMW, for instance.

Neither company pretends to own a patent on the wheel, and Apple isn't claiming ownership of rectangles or rounded corners.

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Re:Apple's suggestions to Samsung to work-around its iPhone ... by tikhonj on Saturday December 03, 2011 @03:25PM (#3308705)
No, trademark laws are what stop you from selling a counterfeit Mercedes or BMW. A design patent would stop you from selling a car that looked vaguely like an existing Mercedes or BMW.
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Re:Apple's suggestions to Samsung to work-around its iPhone ... by danilocampos on Saturday December 03, 2011 @03:37PM (#3308741)
That depends on the counterfeit.

In the case of a counterfeit that looks like a BMW and is badged with the BMW logo, sure.

Otherwise, it becomes a matter of trade dress, which is equally important – and equally valid. Which, for this example, could be a "BBW," perhaps, with green and black circular emblem and a design resembling a Z4.

The test, as I understand it, is whether or not the manufacturer selected a given design specifically to piggyback on the existing goodwill of another brand.

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Re:Apple's suggestions to Samsung to work-around its iPhone ... by rdouble on Saturday December 03, 2011 @03:38PM (#3308744)
Which, for this example, could be a "BBW..."

A very interesting episode of "Pimp My Ride."

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