iPhone News Updated

Apple accuses Samsung of copying iPhone features

‘Samsung’s illegal competition seriously damaged and diluted recognition of Apple’s iPhone.’

Apple Inc. filed a lawsuit against Samsung Electronic Co. yesterday, accusing the Korean company of infringing its patented technologies used in making its iconic smartphone.

In a complaint filed with the Seoul Central District Court, Apple requested that Samsung Electronics be stopped from selling a line of its touch screen smartphones and a tablet PC that hit local and global markets following the U.S. firm’s launch of its smartphone model, the iPhone 3.

Apple also demanded 100 million won ($92,500) in compensation.

Apple argued in the complaint that Samsung Electronics’ Galaxy phones and the Galaxy Tab mini-size PC infringed Apple’s patented technologies used in the iPhone, which enable users to scroll up and down a long electronic document just by flicking the touchscreen.

The Samsung products also unlawfully used Apple’s ideas to enable users to push an on-screen icon for an extended period of time in order to activate it into a different mode in which they can relocate or remove it, it said.

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Altec’s Octiv 650 iPhone/iPod speaker delivers

We review a lot of iPod/iPhone speaker docks and most of them sound somewhere between fair and OK, which is why we initially scoffed at the promotional materials for Altec Lansing’s $199 Octiv 650, which the company bills as “epitome of stylish audio performance.”

It’s not unusual for a company to speak highly about its own products, but the description for the Octiv 650 was especially gushing: “Its discreet lines and unique wedge shape blend in with your decor while it fills your space with full, well-balanced sound…the design is clean and stylish…it’s the epitome of understatement and impressive over delivery.” Based on experience, we expected to be underwhelmed. Happily, however, we weren’t.

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