Samsung is serious about proving that Apple’s patents and hardware design, the very elements Apple accuses Samsung of misappropriating, have themselves been copied from the earlier works of others. Yesterday, we shared what Samsung had to present regarding the history of pinch-to-zoom, showing a Mitsubishi-made touchscreen system with some very similar functionality. Samsung is following that up by going after the design of the iPad itself, calling upon the testimony of the designer of a much earlier tablet.
Roger Fidler, now with the University of Missouri’s Reynolds Journalism Institute, has been working on his vision of a tablet since the early 80s. His design goals, for a tablet that was “lightweight, portable, with a flat screen that had an ability to use a touch screen” are the same things we look for today. He toiled away at his idea for years, and by the mid-90s had some prototypes put together. Critical to Samsung’s case, Fidler shared these designs with Apple.
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