Today, the US Patent Office helped to confuse matters by granting Samsung a design win for the design noted on the right hand side of our cover graphic.

When I saw it today, I laughed. Didn't Samsung scream blue murder about Apple suing them for something as silly as the Galaxy Phone having rounded corners? Well, the design difference between these two microphone designs boils down to … yes, rounded corners. Will either side sue over something this trivial? I highly doubt it. But in today's legal environment, you never know what to expect.

It was once pointed out to me by an Android fan that Google's Android actually used a similar microphone based logo in January 2011 or ten months before Siri's logo was introduced. Yet Google's legal team never filed a trademark to protect it because Apple had this logo going back to the Macintosh LC as noted below, if not a lot earlier. Eagle eyed Apple fan Edison Carter emailed me moments after the report was posted to make that point. Good one, Carter.









Apple is pushing hard to secure this design for Siri. More than likely they'll leave it as just that, a protection for their own use. But that Samsung is like a nasty gnat in Apple's face prodding them to take action.

Yet with more important patent infringement matters remaining on the table against Samsung, I rather doubt that mirroring the Siri logo will ever lead Apple to take legal action. Especially at the moment when the US Patent Office granted both companies design wins for this same microphone icon. Until Apple gains a Registered Trademark, which they hope to gain in the coming year, it's a no win situation for either side anyways.

But for some of us, it's just another sign of Samsung's obsession to copy anything of Apple's that it can legally get away with. Samsung on the other hand likely wants to carry this icon over to their new Tizen smartphones that are due out later this year. That's why they're not relying on Google for protection regarding this icon.

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