Samsung: Stanley Kubrick Invented the Tablet, Not Apple

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Samsung is going to an interesting place in its attempts to avoid being found guilty of infringing on Apple’s tablet computer patents with its design for the Galaxy Tab Android tablet: Yesterday’s tomorrow.

Apparently, Samsung plans to cite the 1968 movie 2001: A Space Odyssey as proof that Apple didn’t invent the tablet as we know it today.

(MORE: Apple Granted Injunction to Block Samsung Tablet Sales in Europe)

One scene from the Stanley Kubrick classic portrays astronauts eating a meal while they check their proto-iPads. And according to sources, this isn’t that only fictional precedent the company plans to introduce.

Apparently, tablets from the relatively-obscure 1970s British television show The Tomorrow People are also mentioned, and I’ll be surprised if similar devices from the far-more-popular Star Trek: The Next Generation aren’t brought up at some point.

Will the arguments work? It’s unknown, but it might introduce enough reason for a judge to refuse to grant an injunction against the sale of any more Samsung products until the case can get properly hashed out in a courtroom—which may count as enough of a win for Samsung in the short term. As previously reported, Samsung tablets have been pulled from shelves in several parts of Europe. And today, Dutch authorities have reportedly ordered that Samsung Galaxy smartphone sales be suspended in Europe as well.

MORE: Tablets: ‘Why Should Somebody Buy This Instead of an iPad?

Graeme McMillan is a reporter at TIME. Find him on Twitter at @Graemem or on Facebook at Facebook/Graeme.McMillan. You can also continue the discussion on TIME’s Facebook page and on Twitter at @TIME.