Just one day after launching the iPad, critics are claiming Apple stole the design and name.
Wired blogger Brian Chen says the iBooks e-reader app on the IPad device was ripped off from an existing iPhone app, Classics. "The pages emulate the look of a printed book page. The 3D page-flipping effect looks almost exactly the same. The only major difference is iBooks has a tool to change font point and type. That and, of course, access to e-books in the iBooks store, which will feature titles from Penguin, Harper Collins, Simon & Schuster, Macmillan and Hachette book group," Chen writes.
Add to that the Financial Times report that the name iPad might even have been ripped off. The FT reports that Apple could be sued by Fujitsu and STMicroelectronics, Europe's largest chipmaker, over use of the iPad name for its tablet computer. Apparently STMicro trademarked the name for its proprietary semiconductor technology in 2000 in Europe and Fujitsu has made a handheld computer called the iPad since 2002. The two companies have told the FT they're now talking to their lawyers.
Added to that is the fact that Siemens has the right to use the iPad name for engines and motors and another firm, Coconut Grove Pads, has the right to use the name for padded bras.
Will there be legal action? I doubt it, Apple would have checked everything through. Still, it just adds to the free publicity and marketing the company is getting.
no comment untill now