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A comment on The Samsung Galaxy S III: The First Smartphone Designed Entirely By Lawyers. Parent comment

Re:The Samsung Galaxy S III: The First Smartphone Designed E... by jessriedel on Saturday May 05, 2012 @04:23PM (#3933169)
>in the end, the main question for the court will be whether or not Samsung has used all of these elements in a way that's likely to confuse consumers about what they're buying.

I don't believe design patents hinge on whether the consumer would be confused; that's for trademarks. Design patents are for protecting the aesthetic idea, just like regular patents are for protecting a technological idea.

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Re:The Samsung Galaxy S III: The First Smartphone Designed E... by ghancock on Sunday May 06, 2012 @02:10AM (#3934315)
The article talks about both trade dress and design patents. That said a court's decision about design patents can involve whether a consumer would be confused. There's a short article that talks about the legal rules for design patent infringement at http://www.designpatentschool.com/assets/Oake_SEPT11%20V2.pd....
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Re:The Samsung Galaxy S III: The First Smartphone Designed E... by jessriedel on Sunday May 06, 2012 @08:12PM (#3936938)
Very interesting. What's the legal theory behind this? Shouldn't trademark infringement protect against consumer confusion?
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