> Can science fiction writings be used as "prior art" to disqualify patents?

I'm admittedly not too sure of the specifics, but Samsung was prevented from using science fiction as a "prior art" defense against Apple:

http://allthingsd.com/20120802/samsung-wont-be-able-to-argue...

EDIT: Coincidentally, it seems the aforementioned patent expired today, https://patents.google.com/patent/USD504889S1/en