i am not claiming to know everything and anything about the patent system, all i know is that it is in place to protect original ideas. the "slide to unlock" was a very generic patent, but was pretty easy to get around.
the localized search is also easy to get around
but appearance...c'mon.
anyone remember the doctored images apple drew up in the original tab 10.1 lawsuit?
basically they put the ipad and tab 10.1 side by side with the tabs app drawer open (so no widgets or "custom layout" could be seen, then they also shortened the 16:9 aspect ratio of the tab down to the same height of the iPad. and its not the first time. check it out
real galaxy S on far right...."legal documents" are the comparrison between GS and Iphone on left (notice the app drawer is open as well)
Click to view quoted image
same thing here
Click to view quoted image
this kind of "trickery" would make me throw out any claims by apple.
like i said earlier, i completely understand apple in wanting to get something from their patents, but it should be legit 100% of the time or nothing.