china! again!

So Apple released its iPad to a dull murmur and an awkward cough and shuffle of the crowd, and just a short week later a Chinese company is preparing a lawsuit against Apple claiming that the iPad's design and name are identical to the Chinese's P88 Touch PC. Hmmmm, iPad.....P88 Touch PC... I can see why the Chinese would think the names are the same. It's probably some kind of translation difference.

As far as the identical appearances go, I'm pretty sure the Chinese are just looking for a new way to bring in revenue now that Google is planning on leaving. Here we have the notoriously unexciting iPad

squarish, touchable, unexciting

and the P88 Touch PC

squarish, touchable, unexciting

My God! APPLE MUST HAVE STOLEN THE SCHEMATICS TO THE PC88! How else could Apple have created something as squarish, touchable, and unexciting as the PC88? If you haven't been able to sense the sarcasm by now let me examine a similar lawsuit that was brought against the We Make Boxes company back in 1756. We Make Boxes patented this box..

Square, packable, useful

We Make Boxes most unknown competitor from China, You Make Boxes:We Distribute to Masses...(rough translation) designed this box and then sued WMB because they claimed WMB stole their design, which looked like this...

square, packable, useful(slightly less)

Needless to say nothing happened because neither of those companies exist. The idea however, is the same. There are only so many ways you can design successful product. There are bound to be similarities eventually. Besides, read the entire story and you become acquainted to the information that it is typical for China to develop aesthetically identical but technologically inferior copycats to popular products called Shanzhai Goods which are then delivered to the poorer parts of southern China. In my opinion Apple has nothing to worry about except the mundaneness of the iPad. However, I may have to fear a vicious counter attack from the Chinese, but I doubt it...this sarcasm probably flew over their heads, (get it ;)

There's a chinese lawyer behind that