Apple ramped up the rhetoric in its patent infringement battle with Samsung on Thursday, filing an amended complaint that includes more allegedly infringing devices and stronger accusations that the company copied the look and feel of its iPhone and iPad.

Which is saying a lot, because as of its last court filing, Apple had taken to referring to Samsung simply as "the copyist."

"[Samsung's] products...blatantly imitate the appearance of Apple's products to capitalize on Apple's success," Apple says in the complaint, which now weighs in at an impressive 63 pages, up from its original 38. "The copying has been widely observed in the industry and has been mentioned in multiple articles reviewing Samsung products."

It then goes on to explain just how grievous an offense that alleged copying is, by recounting the years of R&D work that went into developing the iPhone.

"While the iPhone was an instant success, there was nothing instant about the design process," the complaint reads. "Over the course of several years, Apple had teams of people working on developing each aspect of the design of the phone itself--the shape of the phone, the materials used, and the size and placement of the mask that frames the screen--as well as the Multi-Touch user interface, to make a product that looked and felt entirely different from prior phones on the market. The end result was a very clean shape for the phone, with an entirely flat glass panel for the front, gently rounded corners and integrated casing, and intuitive touch features. Before Apple's introduction of the first iPhone product, no other company was offering a phone with these features."

But there were quite a few that came after it, including a bunch from Samsung, Apple says. Among them, the 15 devices Apple singled out in its first complaint and the 12 new ones it added to it Thursday.*

So, a significant escalation of hostilities, particularly coming as it does on the court-set deadline for Samsung to provide Apple's outside counsel samples of its already-announced upcoming products, including the Galaxy Tab 10.1, Infuse 4G, and Droid Charge.

*Samsung devices mentioned in Apple's original complaint: Captivate, Continuum, Vibrant, Galaxy S 4G, Epic 4G, Indulge, Mesmerize, Showcase, Fascinate, Nexus S, Gem, Transform, Intercept, Acclaim, and Galaxy Tab.

Samsung devices added in Apple's amended complaint: Droid Charge, Exhibit 4G, Galaxy Ace, Galaxy Prevail, Galaxy S (i9000), Gravity, Infuse 4G, Nexus S 4G, Replenish, Sidekick, Galaxy Tab 10.1, and Galaxy S II.

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