The iPad-like devices in 2001: A Space Odyssey. Even more surprising is the fact that a senior patent lawyer argues that "Samsung probably has a viable defence here".
Apple and Samsung are suing each other all over the world for patent infringement after Apple accused Samsung of "blatant copying" of its products.
The Samsung Galaxy Tab 10.1 Photo: SuppliedA similar case against the Galaxy Tab is running in the US and Samsung this week filed its reasons for why Apple should not be granted an injunction.
One of its exhibits is a still image and YouTube clip taken from Stanley Kubrick's 1968 film, which shows two astronauts eating while at the same time using what appear to be personal tablet computers.
Apple CEO Steve Jobs presents the iPad 2 Also cited in Samsung's defence is a scene from the 1970s British TV series The Tomorrow People which appears to depict a tablet computer.
Florian Mueller, who has been tracking the various patent battles on his blog and first uncovered the Kubrick reference, said it would be "amazing" if the court agreed with Samsung.
However, Mark Summerfield, a senior associate with Melbourne intellectual property law firm Watermark, believes Samsung may have a case.
Summerfield said that the Apple patent referenced in the Kubrick defence is a design patent that protects the form (i.e. physical appearance) rather than function. This is distinct to a utility patent, which concerns how the device is used.
"Generally science fiction is not legitimate prior art to a utility patent, because it does not provide an 'enabling disclosure', i.e. it does not inform the public how to make the fictional apparatus," said Summerfield, who writes the patent blog patentology.com.au.
But he said there was no reason why science fiction could not be "invalidating prior art" to a registered design.
"For example, if I were to copy the Star Trek communicator as a novelty mobile phone, I would have no right to claim a monopoly in that design. I did not devise it myself (i.e. I am not the true designer/author)," said Summerfield.
"I think that Samsung probably has a viable defence here."
Science fiction films have long contained fictional representations of devices long before they become viable real-world products.
Tablets also featured in Star Trek: The Next Generation while other devices like Microsoft's Xbox Kinect motion control accessory appear to have been inspired by the 2002 film Minority Report.
In his book, which inspired the Kubrick film, Arthur C. Clarke described a tablet device that is remarkably similar to the iPad.
He wrote: "When he tired of official reports and memoranda and minutes, he would plug in his foolscap-size newspad into the ship's information circuit and scan the latest reports from Earth. One by one he would conjure up the world's major electronic papers…Switching to the display unit's short-term memory, he would hold the front page while he quickly searched the headlines and noted the items that interested him. Each had its own two-digit reference; when he punched that, the postage-stamp-size rectangle would expand until it neatly filled the screen and he could read it with comfort."
Samsung has not revealed when it might launch its Galaxy Tab in Australia but experts argue the device would need to be significantly hobbled to avoid a lengthy patent infringement battle with Apple.
Apple and Samsung are due back in the Federal Court for a directions hearing on Monday.
As the popularity of Google's Android platform grows, Apple is suing various Android device makers including Samsung, HTC and Motorola for allegedly copying its devices and infringing its patents. But the Android camp is firing back in kind with counter-suits and Google has also launched a stinging defence of its Android partners.
Apple has been accused of doctoring images of Samsung devices in its evidence to make the Galaxy Tab and Galaxy S appear more similar to the iPad and iPhone.
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