Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Apple Doesn't Want a Settlement

@gruber highlights @counternotions on "Why Weren't Samsung and Apple Able to Settle?":
The other possibility, of course, is that Apple never even contacted Samsung before filing the suit.
That would have been my assumption. Apple doesn't want a conversation, doesn't want a settlement, here. They probably want something more like this:
  • Samsung to stop making phones that are so derivative of iPhone.
  • All handset makers, Android or otherwise, to be afraid of mimicking the best parts of the iPhone design.
  • To damage the momentum of Android by encouraging handset manufacturers to see it as a potential liability.
I agree with Jack Wellborn that this isn't specifically about Android. It's both narrower and broader. The suit addresses particular items, many of which are specific to particular Samsung models. But the goal is to encourage all handset manufacturers of all stripes to make phones that are less derivative of the iPhone.

Apple doesn't need money. A quiet settlement gets them very little of the above. They want a public, loud, and expensive suit. Even if they lose the suit, they want handset manufacturers, and particularly Android manufacturers, to understand the risk they take when they tread too close to the iPhone design.

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