By now, it's a well known fact that Apple is suing the pants off Samsung for "copying" its iPad with tablets that resemble its design. In Samsung's defense, Apple didn't invent the modern day tablet form, Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film 2001: A Space Odyssey did. Geek fight!
Pointing to a clip from Space Odyssey, Samsung says that it's pretty damn clear that the two dudes are eating while using tablet computers that sound just like Apple's patent for a tablet. In a nutshell, Apple's patent basically says that a tablet is designed to be flat with a screen in a rectangular shape, with a black bezel around it.
Here, you watch the video, and decide for yourself:
Looks like two tablets to me. In fact, it can even be argued that Apple ripped off Space Odyssey's tablet design. If the evidence proves strong enough, Samsung could be able to beat Apple and have no problems selling its Galaxy Tab tablets wherever the heck it wants to.
The bigger picture is that a significant win for Samsung would ensure that there is fair competition to the iPad. It's not only Samsung that Apple's pointing its guns at, it's anybody else who makes a tablet that even remotely resembles an iPad, such as Motorola's Xoom, RIM's PlayBook, etc.
It's not everyday that a defendant in a case brings a sci-fi movie up as evidence, so we're all pretty jazzed about this. Honestly, how many ways is there to make a tablet? As witty DVICE readers have pointed out before, what are competitors supposed to do? Make a tablet in the shape of a triangle? Hexagon? Oval?