In 1994 Roger Fidler created a tablet with most of the features of the iPad a federal Judge ruled in Apple’s patent infringement case against Samsung. US District Judge Lucy Koh denied Apple’s motion for an injunction against Samsung for its Galaxy and Droid phone because Fidler’s 1994 tablet design created “basically the same visual image” as Apple’s iPad Design Patent (D504,889).

The Washington Post reported that in 1994 Fidler was doing research in Colorado for Knight-Rider and came up with the idea for what we now call an iPad. Interestingly enough Fidler’s next door neighbor in 1994 was Apple who developing the ill-fated Newton, an early PDA.

Check out Fidler’s video from 1994 on YouTube (which has gone viral) to see what how he described the iPad.

Of course the tablet computer is an old concept, and originally with a pen, so it’s no wonder that Fidler’s design in 1994 predated the 2010 Apple iPad.
 

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