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Comment by levesque | Hacker News Reader

To me this sounds a bit scary. Is the Galaxy Tab really that similar to the IPad? What about the Xoom? If the Galaxy is banned, why should the Xoom/Asus Transformer be excluded?

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No, it's not really that similar. It's gamesmanship from Apple.

People have thought my really chunky viewsonic g-tablet was an ipad: http://www.viewsonic.com/gtablet/ and it is no where close.

People have thought my really chunky viewsonic g-tablet was an ipad

That would suggest that Apple is correct, wouldn't it?

It would also mean that any tablet would be considered infringing on the design of the iPad.

Only if you think the entire design space has been explored. Sure, there's only so many ways you can package the same commodity components, but I don't think it's impossible to design a tablet that's distinguishable from an iPad from more than a few feet away (or in advertising). Compare an HP TouchPad or Nook Color to the Galaxy Tab models.

No..ppl believe any tablets are ipads since Apple was first to make the tablet popular.

There are standard shapes and sizes for a lot of technologies.

I'm sure there's plenty of people who have referred to OSX as "Windows." Might not be the case so much now that Macs are becoming more popular, but I think my point still stands: calling for either tablet to be banned is just as absurd as calling for either OS to be banned.

Your example was the subject of a famous lawsuit as well, so whatever your feelings about the issues, Apple has acted consistently over the years in going after those who they see as copying their products:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer,_Inc._v._Microso...

And this famous lawsuit was a famous mistake by Apple. They lost and they generated an enormous amount of ill will at a time when Apple couldn't afford that. Looking back, it is amazing to realize that people felt sympathetic to Microsoft as a victim of Apple's anti-competitive tactics.

Are you seriously suggesting everyone else in the market should be banned from making tablets because Apple was the first one to make one which is publically recognized?

You may not have said so explicitly, but it is hanging out there, on the broad side of your argument.

No, and I resent the interpretation.

No, not at all. Because everyone who sees an eBook reader usually thinks it's a Kindle, despite the fact a Sony, a Kobo, and the original Nook look absolutely nothing like a Kindle. (The Nook Touch has a similar color casing, but has no keyboard. Plus, there is no white model.)

There are only so many ways to design a unique rectangular phone or tablet, but Samsung tries to make theirs look closer to Apple's than the others.

Samsung's TouchWiz interface, at least on the phones, could easily be mistaken for Apple's interface in iOS as well, whereas HTC and Motorola's phones can't really.

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