Interesting point, but this is where people seem to disagree. At college plagiarism is expressly forbidden. It's seen as cheating to attempt to pass off someone else's work, or a close copy, as your own. It can lead to expulsion. And so it should. Samsung have done this, and appear to be continuing to do so. What makes it worse to me isn't the fact that they are attempting to mimick Apple's aesthetic to confuse, it's the liberal use of their design language with minor tweaks and the blatant denial from all and sundry that copying has taken place. It's the emporers new clothes!

Should it be illegal? That depends. The level that Samsung take things to should be. That said, their is nothing inherently wrong with being informed by other aesthetics when designing the look and feel of a product and that is where the line blurs.