14 DAY TRIAL // Samsung Electronics has admitted to plagiarizing Apple and Microsoft icons in the user interface of its latest handset model 'Skin.'
The company has said that it has changed the graphic design and has recalled the phones from retailers, while users who have already bought the unit can upgrade the graphics by downloading a software update from their site.
"'There were a few mistakes while we were developing the new product,' Chung Kook-hyun, chief of Samsung's corporate design center, told The Korea Times by phone. 'We have already fixed the designs and I believe that the old models are not being sold in the market anymore,'" Cho Jin-seo reports for The Korea Times.
Some of the icons such as that of the 'TextEdit' and 'MSN Messenger' applications were copied outright, while others such as that of the 'Stickies' application were incorporated into other icons. Chung said he did not identify how or by whom the copied icons made it into the new cell phone interface.
So far, Apple and Microsoft have made no statement on the matter, but the Internet community at large has been having heated discussions about the matter on several forums.