"Look and feel" lawsuits should be completely banned. If current patent law had been around at the time the wheel was invented, some dirtbag company like Apple or SCO would have patented it and then sue for royalties whenever anyone else used something round. I could give hundreds or thousands of examples of things that current patent law would treat no differently than the stupid iphone vs android phone, and yet would outrage people if they were patented. Say, a ladder. Patent law is completely broken, and every time it's amended it gets worse.
Another example, maybe more relevant, of this idiocy is that when AT&T owned Unix, they tried to patent the way that application windows overlap on the screen. Like there's more than one way to do that? Fortunately, an academic at a university was able to prove that Unix didn't do it first.
As far as I'm concerned, the UK judge is the only one who got it right.
It should simply not be possible to patent something when the design is obvious and there is no practical way to do it differently. That applies to ladders, wheels, and yes, the current phone argument.
In 10 years Micro$oft will be an also-ran has-been company. Apple won't be far behind. Good riddance to both. Both companies were run by figureheads who, after inventing one original revolutionary product that the company was founded on, devolved into just expertise in selling ice cubes to eskimos, not further innovation. Companies which do predatory pricing just because they can should die off.
