@insickness, i agree with you that patent of shape is weird. but, is iphone and galaxy really indistinguishable? they are different size, operating system, logos and even buttons are different. only similarity i can find is that they are rounded rectangle and color black when they are turned off and if you look from far distance they both looks like tv remote control,,,
I agree with @vibrunazo, we have to think in term of consumer benefit point of view. competition is good thing, improving existing product segment or competitive product is perfect business model. there were smart phone before iphone, tablet before ipad, pc before imac, settop_box before apple_tv etc,,, xwindows before macos,, Apple improved existing competitive products, as Samsung did. Android is improvement over SideKick, used linux which is already existing technology and Dalvik on Java etc... wheel to automoble to air plain to spaceship? :) you got the point. it's all about reusing or leveraging existing technology for benefit of consumer needs - incremental innovation!