Many in the tech industry are familiar with Apple taking legal actions against Samsung. Of course Apple has a long history with litigations, trademark infringments, and patent suits with other major corporations including Microsoft, HP, eMachines, and HTC.
In early 2011, while Apple was in court against Motorola, Apple went to court against Samsung, alleging Samsung had infringed on Apples intellectual property. The claim included the Galaxy S, Epic, Nexus S phones as well as the Samsung Galaxy tablets. The original complaint includes allegations that Samsung infringed on elements of the iPhone's look -- its rectangular shape, rounded corners, silver edges, black face and display of icons. By August, 2011, the legal battles extended to 19 ongoing lawsuits in 12 courts in nine countries on four continents; by October, the fight expanded to 10 countries.
The battles became so widespread that a US court ordered Apple and Samsung Chief executive officers into settlement talks to sort out their patent disputes or at least limit the number of legal actions. This prompted a technology magazine to report the court's directive for the two companies to, "get a room".
So now here we are in May 2012, and low and behold both companies are in the beginnings of settlement talks to find a resolution before a full-blown jury trial gets under way, scheduled for July.
It's understandable that it's fierce competition in the tech industry, especially when it comes to patent and design infrigments and every corporation has it's right to protect it's investments, but I believe Apple goes to the extreme. When it comes to "likeness" and "design", there will be phones you come across will have a similar interface and style which will remind you of a another android or iPhone.
More information can be found at this CNN article:
http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/20/business/apple-samsung-settlement/index.html