If you're not up-to-date on the , here's what's going on: Apple claims that Samsung's Galaxy line of phones and tablets . Among other things, Apple says the Galaxy line's "trade dress" or visual appearance is too similar. Well, Samsung disagrees--and they're pointing to 2001: A Space Odyssey as justification.

In one of the , two astronauts are eating together. Each has a thin, tablet-like display next to his meal tray. Because the film was released in 1968--long before Apple designed the iPad--Samsung argues that Space Odyssey establishes iPad-like tablets as "prior art," thereby invalidating one of Apple's patents.

"As with the design claimed by the D'889 Patent, the tablet disclosed in the clip has an overall rectangular shape with a dominant display screen, narrow borders, a predominately flat front surface, a flat back surface (which is evident because the tablets are lying flat on the table's surface), and a thin form factor," Samsung's legal team writes.

This curious legal argument was noticed by Florian Mueller, who writes about technology at the .

"It would be amazing if the court agreed with Samsung that this constitutes prior art for that particular iPad-related design patent," .