Digitivity » intellectual property

German Pirate Party Wins 15 Seats

Digitivity — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 02:25:00 +0000

The German Pirate Party won 8.9 percent of the vote in elections for the Berlin legislature. That netted them 15 seats. That’s a huge win for a party which was seen as mostly a quixotic effort. Their main plank is to move back to the unregulated Internet of the 1990s. They want to legalize non-commercial copying and abolish patent laws. Via

Prior Art for the iPad: From 1994

Digitivity — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 16:39:00 +0000

So Apple’s suing everyone left and right who’s selling anything that looks remotely like an iPad, including getting an injunction preventing Samsung from selling its Tab in Europe.

It’s amazing to me the way Apple thinks they own the very concept of a tablet.

So here’s a video from 1994 talking about Knight-Ridder’s tablet-based electronic newspaper initiative (1994!)

-It talks about multimedia integrated into electronic newspaper articles, like clicking on a picture of a ballgame to see a videoclip from it.
-It talks about clicking on newspaper headlines and summaries to go to the full article.
-It even talks about clicking ads; if you’re interested in it, you can go to the advertiser’s site (called “space” in the documentary).
-It talks about voice commands to operate the device.
So, what do you think: is Samsung the copycat, or Apple?

Apple Stole iPad Design from a Chinese Company?

Digitivity — Sun, 07 Feb 2010 08:53:39 +0000

Plenty of American and other companies have claimed that Chinese companies have copied their designs.

Now, a Chinese company is claiming that Apple stole the design for the iPad from it.

An electronics firm in Shenzen, China, has been selling tablet computer called the PC-P88 since last July. The company, Shenzhen Great Loong Industrial, says that they are talking to lawyers and readying a lawsuit against Apple.

The PC-P88

is a bit heavier than the iPad
has USB ports, unlike the iPad
runs Windows and supports Linux
has an ethernet port as well as WiFi
has a 160GB hard drive (unlike the Apple iPad)
has card reader
has only 1.5 hours battery time

My comments

What’s good for the goose is good for the gander. Apple is famous for claiming that others have copied its designs, and for filing lawsuits.

Even so, there were plenty of tablet computers before the iPad and also before the PC-P88 (like the Microsoft Tablet PC), so I don’t think Great Loong’s lawsuit could end up being anything other than a PR boost.

Resources

NY Times article
PC-P88 website