So innovative that they were copied by Samsung because they can’t come up with anything on their own–ZOMG back at ya

Yeah, because those patents are so innovative. Rounded corners, oooooh. Slide to unlock, ZOMG!!

Apple has an obligation to their shareholders to defend patents, or else the patents are not worth the paper they’re written on. So if Samsung or anyone else who does not have a licensing agreement with Apple steals their stuff–then yes, they should, and will sue them

James, lets not get into whether or not Apple’s patents are valid in the first place, that’s a rather long and intricate discussion on it’s own. Lets also not discuss that farse of a trial in CA with appeals currently ongoing.

I do want to point out that Google is aggressively going after patent overhaul, and interestingly enough, Apple is on board. It is happening, but it’s slow, this is congress we’re talking about.

1. I’m not personally in favor of all the suing, but Apple can do what they want. They have a lot of money, and they are working within the current legal structure.

2. If Google, Samsung, Blackberry, or the artist formerly known as Palm wants to protect their stuff, they are free to file for a patent. If they don’t, then they have no expectation that their ideas won’t be borrowed.

3. It’s one thing to direct copy. It’s another to take something, and re-work it. Google did this with homescreen folders in Jellybean. They outright copied the entire drop an app on an app metaphor from Apple, but they put their own unique spin on it. Same with Swipe to Unlock. They took the idea and changed it up. I see absolutely nothing wrong with that. While I haven’t installed the iOS 7 beta yet, it’s pretty clear that Apple borrowed elements from not just Android 4.0+, but also iOS Jailbreak tools, WP and webOS, and then put a different spin on it all.

Samsung, on the other hand, directly copied several UI elements from iOS in early versions of TouchWiz. This is not news. Sure, they don’t anymore, but I wasn’t surprised or bothered that they lost that judgement last year. It wasn’t like they got put out of business. It barely put a dent in their profits.

Would Apple sue someone else over this? Possibly. But, they would have filed a patent on whatever they created first. Google is within their rights to do so, as well, but they choose not to. Also, considering that Google has 10 times the current government lobbying budget of Apple, if they made software patent reform a real priority and pushed for patent system overhaul, they could probably make it happen. It’s curious to me that they haven’t yet. They seem much more worried about other things, like flip flopping on net neutrality, running fiber through cities without getting sued over it, or making plans for their own island kingdom somewhere in the Pacific.

In the end, the question needs to be asked: How much has any of this REALLY hurt them? Evidently, not that much. If not, then what’s the big deal? Why the Android Army moral crusade?

No, it’s an Android rip off. But Apple has been hesitant to go directly after Google, so they sue their biggest partner instead.

I have a Galaxy Note 8, and I don’t see much TouchWiz in iOS 7. A lighter spin on Holo, but not as flat. Still, this is sure as hell no Sammy rip off.

Do you think Apple will stop trying to sue Samsung now? I don’t either.

There is definitely some “sharing” among mobile OS’s, but I agree with James–this has aspects of Web OS all over it

To me, it looks like they stole more from webOS than Android. The card metaphor for multitasking, especially. Also, Apple did go a different direction with the overall color scheme and pallete, which is very light in tone and bright, at least by default. Holo tends to have darker backgrounds by default if memory serves.

They both stole them from Win Mobile!! LOL (jk)

plenty of iOS elements in Android as well–especially in the earlier versions.

They’ve gotta save something for OS7.1

I won’t deny that there are some distinctly Android-esque elements to the new design…