Apple consulted Samsung, LG phones before iPhone release: documents

Apple Inc. consulted the designs of mobile phones made by Samsung Electronics Co. and LG Electronics Inc., documents showed Wednesday, giving a new twist to the high-stakes patent war between the world‘s two biggest smartphone makers.

Samsung and Apple have been embroiled in patent lawsuits spanning four continents as part of efforts to dominate the $219 billion global smartphone market. While courtroom battles are still in process, an Aug. 24 jury verdict in the United States dealt a blow to the Korean firm by ordering a $1.05 billion payment for damages.

According to the 3GSM Congress Trade Show Report compiled in February 2006 ahead of the official release of the iPhone in 2007, Apple compared the size and design of its iPhone prototype with Samsung’s UltraSmart F700 and LG‘s Prada phones.

The document analyzes around 30 handsets designed by handset manufacturers including Samsung, LG, HTC and Nokia. Of the analyzed models, the UltraSmart F700 and the Prada phones were the only models that are compared side-by-side with the iPhone.

The 2.8-inch Samsung phone and the 3-inch LG phone have smaller displays and thicker designs than the 3.5-inch iPhone. Both models, however, have a rectangular design with rounded corners, which was a key issue in the design patent infringement claims lodged by Apple.

While a Korean court found Apple’s infringement claim on the disputed design invalid, citing LG‘s Prada phone, the U.S. federal jury ruled Samsung copied the design in addition to five other patents.

The document also showed that Apple acknowledged Samsung phones as a “clear winner” in slim designs, while playing down some Samsung and LG phones for insufficient features.

“Some are all beauty, sex appeal and no brains (meaning outstanding features). The new LG Prada and Shine, Motorola KRZR K3 and Samsung U300 are perfect examples,” according to the document.

Meanwhile, Samsung’s internal documents also showed the Korean company compared its Galaxy S phone with the iPhone.

The 132-page report, compiled in 2010, compares the two devices across numerous features, including home screen icons and phone applications.

Both internal documents were submitted as evidence in the U.S. court. Following the Aug. 24 jury verdict, the two companies await a judge‘s ruling as well as a Dec. 6 hearing on Apple’s request to permanently ban sales of several Samsung devices. 

(Yonhap News)