I think that happens in any industry where the rules of the game change. The competitors then have to adapt after the winning design/product if the consumers want it and they want to stay relevant. Some level of similarity should be permitted because of that, otherwise you would have either very little competition or none at all.
I don't think Apple are arguing about some similarity, I think it's the sheer level of it - the physical design, the icons, the packaging and so on.
Windows Phone / Metro show that you can do these things differently, so does BlackBerry OS, so do some Android phones. When you look at the similarities between the iPhone and assorted other smartphones, they're nowhere near all being the same.
It's certainly interesting that (to my eyes at least) more recent phones like the S3 look a lot less like the iPhone than the S2 did and has still been massively successful.
> I don't think Apple are arguing about some similarity, I think it's the sheer level of it - the physical design, the icons, the packaging and so on.
I can see how this argument might seem plausible if Apple were only going after Samsung, but they're not.
Apple's also going after HTC (going after, among other things, the Nexus One and the HTC Flyer), Motorola (Xoom)and at least a couple of smaller tablet vendors (and it is entirely possible that there are lawsuits and/or other legal actions I've missed). It's worth nothing that that list includes the top 3 Android OEMs in the US. It's also worth noting Apple is likely avoiding suing Sony because Sony has a trove of patents they could counter-attack with.
This isn't about copying, no matter how much Apple and their apologists try to pretend that it is. This is about Apple abusing the broken patent system to damage their competition - no more, no less.
Yes there are cases all over but the Samsung one is far wider in it's scope - you're not seeing senior execs on both sides pitching up in court anywhere else.
I'd suggest that in different cases (and indeed within the same case in some instances) both things are happening - Apple are pissed off at what seems to be outright copying and that Apple are taking advantage of the system.
But I'm dubious about any suggestion that it has to be one or the other, these things are rarely that clear cut.
