This little line is followed up by more rhetoric that suggests that design is everything. The Bressler Group also has 100 patents that they aggressively protect just like Apple. It would seem they are a very close fit for each other. Bressler has already made some comments that Samsung Phones are copycats and made the declaration that they infringe on Apple’s patent. He further goes on to claim that Apple’s design was not obvious (a bold comment) and even had the audacity to claim that Apple intentionally made the ear hole the shape it was by design.
We will show you a picture that we have shown you before as you mull that one over and see how outlandish the claim that Apple “invented” that oblong shape for the ear hole. We will also point you to a fact that Apple would certainly not like many to remember. Steve jobs once said that he pulled inspiration from other people’s designs including household appliances and that he ones stated Apple was shameless about stealing others ideas.
Hmmm the earhole looks familliar as doe the overall shape....
Now that we have gotten past this, let’s take a closer Bressler’s claims. Bressler was shown Apple’s phones, the diagrams from the patents and claims that the rectangular portion creates a specific design or impression. He claims that the designs embody the patent. He also made one of what we are sure will be many contradictions in his testimony. He first claimed; “My opinion that there are a number of Samsung phones and two Samsung tablets that are substantially the same as the design in those patents” which would seem to be at odds with his later comment; “Industrial designers are trained to pay attention to a lot of the little details that work together to form the overall impression that the usual consumer would view," followed by "So (consumers) may see those details, but they tend to be somewhat subconscious to the overall view.”
Ok so… what does that say about the prior art that he ruled out? He claims that because it had curved glass it could not be used as prior art, but to the consumer the design might look very similar and also lend credit to Samsung’s claims of Obviousness of Apple’s claimed patent. We also noted that in his testimony he did not comment on designs that existed prior to the iPhone from companies like HTC, Samsung and others that were already heading in that direction (again look at the picture above). For an industrial designer to claim that the 16:9 aspect ratio Galaxy tab copied the design of the 4:3 iPad we find that a little hard to believe when it is “the little details that work together to form the overall impression” that designers like Bressler are trained to see. That one should have stood out like a sore thumb really.
We do not have the cross examination of Bressler yet, but we will be sure to update this article when we do have it. Apple you cannot have it both ways, either the devil is in the details or it is not… sorry, but Bressler might have been a mistake for you to use. When a professional designer cannot see the obvious differences in the products, but a judge and the common user can something is not quite right.
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