So the days when Apple thought they didn't need to do this were the days of the Apple II.
Apple added all that and Windows 1, after the Lisa was launched, opted to also have them. So, yes. Both Apple and Microsoft borrowed a lot from Xerox, but Microsoft really copied a lot from what Apple did.
Apple's Jef Raskin did come up with drag-and-drop though so that's pretty much the one original thing they did.
The Star didn't have overlapping windows either I believe (Atkinson believed it did, so he implemented it). I think the clipboard was invented for Lisa as well.
Was that necessary?
HTC has had their own design language for quite some time. If you can't immediately tell the difference between an HTC phone (or tablet) and an iPhone (or iPad) when they're put next to each other (and I've seen plenty), you either have rocks in your head or you're lying.
Apple suing HTC is the easiest way to see that they're not going after "copyists" (whatever they are), they're going after competitors wherever they can, by hook or by crook.
"the phone was first introduced at the 3GSM World Congress that was held in February 2007. Sales to the European market started November 2007" [1]
[1] http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samsung_SGH-F700
Edit: typo
I make no assumption on whether they did or didn't, but couldn't samsung have cribbed some notes during that timeframe?
Other problem is that Samsung only makes some parts of the iphone -, there is no reason to think they had finished product design before the iphone was announced.
Also, I saw Korean patent reference in the article I've linked to. There is no proof of that patent. Korea patent search [1] probably broken. Doesn't return any phone patents or design patents applied for in December 2006
[1]http://detseng.kipris.or.kr/ndetsen/loin1000a.do?method=logi...
> One of these phones (the bottom-right one) became the Samsung F700 - a product Apple once included as an infringing product, but later withdrew once it learned Samsung created it and brought it to market before the iPhone
The more this thing goes on, the more it feels like Apple is filing all the possible lawsuits they can more in order to slow down their competitors than because they have valid claims.
I miss the days when they did not need to do this because their products were simply better than the competition.