Susan Kare, the former Apple designer who created the iconic smiling Mac icon for Apple’s computers testified in U.S. District Court, saying that Samsung has mimicked the look and feel of Apple’s mobile software to such an extent, even she gets confused.
Pointing to similarities between Samsung’s phones and Apple’s design patents, Kare said the similarities are “beyond coincidental.”
“It seemed likely to me that Samsung used iPhone screen graphics as a guide,” Kare said.
Kare said that at one point, while talking to the lawyers, and reaching to pick up an iPhone to make a point, she accidentally picked up one of Samsung’s devices instead.
“I think of myself as someone who’s pretty granular about looking at graphics, and I mistook one for the other,” Kare said.
Kare, a San Francisco-based graphic designer, worked at Apple between 1982 and 1986. She holds a Ph.D. in fine arts from New York University.
Kare testified that a number of Samsung’s designs violated Apple’s patents, and mimicked the look and feel of Apple’s trade dress.
She also testified that there were viable alternatives to Apple’s screen graphics, and said that the look and feel of Apple’s iPhone was not inevitable. She said Samsung copied that look.
Upon cross-examination Samsung legal counsel Charles Verhoeven pulled out a Verizon Droid, made by Samsung, started it up, and flicked to the “application screen” at the center of Kare’s testimony.
“Wouldn’t you agree once a consumer goes through all those steps to get to an application screen that the consumer knows this is a Samsung phone,” Verhoeven asked.”That once the consumer goes through the phone, sees the Samsung name for several seconds, sees the graphic for ‘Droid,’ and by the time they get to that application screen, wouldn’t you agree that the consumer knows they’re not using a Samsung phone?”
“I’m not an expert in consumer behavior,” Kare replied.
Verhoeven spent minutes questioning Kare about the similarities she saw between icons with a white, retro phone on a green background, as can be found on both companies phones. He asked her if Apple had the exclusive right to use a retro phone on a green background on an icon.
When I was looking at this design I looked specifically at that incarnation of a phone icon, green rounded corners tilted pointing up, a bit of a gradient,” Kare said. “So I see the parts that make a whole, versus the ingredients that make a cookie.”
Apple is seeking $2.5 billion from Samsung, claiming the South Korean electronics make stole its designs for the iPhone and iPad. Samsung has filed a counter-suit charging that Apple has infringed on its patents.
