Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
11 hours ago

SAN FRANCISCO (AFP) — Apple has won a US patent for touch-screen controls and gained a potential legal weapon against iPhone competitors.

US Patent 7,479,949 is awarded to "(Steve) Jobs et al" for a method of "detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display" to command computing devices.

A multi-page patent available online at the US Patent and Trade Office on Monday details iPhone or iPod Touch commands such as finger or thumb swiping, twisting, or spreading to flip pages, rotate views, or enlarge images.

The patent was issued last week, a day before Apple on January 21 announced record-high quarterly profits.

Word of the patent provides ominous context for a warning made by Apple chief operating officer Tim Cook during a conference call that followed release the California firm's earnings report.

Cook said he believes iPhones are "years ahead of the competition" and that they are vigilantly watching to make certain rivals don't usurp Apple's intellectual property.

"We think competition is good," Cook said. "We are ready to suit up and go against anyone. However, we will not stand for having our IP ripped off and will use whatever weapons at our disposal."

While not mentioning a specific competitor, Cook made his comment in reply to a question related to a new Palm Pre touch-screen mobile telephone unveiled at the Consumer Electronics Show this month to stellar reviews.



It sounds like they are afraid..........

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

I wonder if this can be applied to other "computing devices" other than mobile phones. Think Apple will take on other touch screen non-mobile phone device manufacturers?

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

here's an article i found about it today. since the Pre has that type of technology, would they have to pull it?? or just pay like a royalty or something for it?
yupp

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

I think this patent is going to fail in court. Maybe multi-touch, but touch? Seriously? Prior art much?

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Hmmmmmmmmmm

is the end near for touch screen phones?

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

well, what i got out of it, was that not touch screen, but certain technologies used by touch screens. but i feel what the OP said, it probably wont hold in court, or someone or thing will prevent the patent from being finalized, but hey anything can happen. hell the Ded Sox won the series in '04, anything goes..lol

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

I thought it wasn't so much that they will take down any other multi touch phones as they will any phone that relies on the same technology FOR multitouch, know what I mean?

I ****ing hate Apple. Multitouch was inevitable but since they bought up the geniuses needed to put out the ipod touch /iphone first, suddenly its not ok for anyone else to have multitouch? Bullsh*t like this is counter-productive to technology.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

As much as most will agree, this is just reality.
As far as I read it, the multi-touch patent extends to the "gestures" that the iphone/itouch are well-known for, not for the touch screens in general.

As for it standing up in the courts, you never know what can happen, so it's hard to predict. One thing is that we'll probably find out soon with the Palm Pre release coming soon.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Moved to Pocket PC News Forum.

I know this is not about the PPC, but could change the future of the PPC.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

I also read where Apple is going to patent the way you type on your pc keyboard. Essentially they will be protecting the way your finger interacts with the keys. And soon, they will be patenting the way you eat...and the way you sleep....etc.

And I agree with schettj...it will fail.

late,
Coz

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Actually schettj said "maybe multitouch, but not touch".
And in essence that is what the patent is all about. It is NOT about patenting simply the touch screens that are ubiquitous. It is about the "multi-touch" technology.

Of course, that too can fail in court, but again you never know how the courts will rule. All you need to do is remember the RIM lawsuit.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

what about W7 and WM7... **** apple... steve jobs gives *** hole lawyers jobs

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

I don't think anyone on this board is happy about it... I wish everyone is right that it won't hold up in court but all I have to do is remember the RIM lawsuit mess to know that it's not so easy. :(

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Can someone "refresh" my memory about the RIM lawsuit

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

OK this is from memory so, sorry if some of my facts are wrong. RIM (Research in Motion) is the maker of the beloved blackberry and was sued by NTP for patent infringement. NTP is a small software company that holds patents on the software used by RIM to deliver content to Blackberry devices.

Right from the beginning many experts were predicting that RIM would prevail... but as time went along the a series of court decisions sent strong messages that it was leaning towards NTP. In fact, it came very close to issuing an injunction on Blackbery devices and shutting down the entire network. And remember this was before the iphone came along. The Blackberry was the defacto standard for email on portable devices.

Eventually they settled out of court with RIM paying something like $600 million.

It was a nightmare... that no one every imagined would go that far.

Of course all patents lawsuits are different but I'd be careful not to dismiss this so fast.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Wow, what will happen to all those HTC screens that are supposed to in the future support multi touch? Is it since its a differing technology that they will still exist or will they have to cease production on them?

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

100% will fail. Those whom say it wont are uneducated about the process. Again this purpose holds for viability in marketing nothing more. >sigh< Slapple at its best..........:drunken:

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

All it is right now is just a patent....

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

well. hope it fails. are they going to put a patent on ultra-slim laptops as well? or capacitive screens?

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

wow thats all I can say lol

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Seems like windows mobile was around before the iPhone

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

your quote kinda fits ...

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

ROFL! Don't forget to add in the patent to make sure every one sends their stuff to apple to have the batteries, SD cards, colostomy bags, etc changed out by their certified techs. Talk about Big Brother...

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

And (at least in the media's view) we're all supposed to be falling down and worshiping at the feet of this company. Gaack!

No Thank You.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Yeah, not a whole lot of Apple love here for this patent but that is reality...
I was surprised they actually won the patent in the first place but they did. We'll just have to see what happens next.

But from all accounts that I've read, it really should not affect any of the devices on PPGgeeks currently. None of them have to type of multi-touch gestures covered in the patent. (now, future devices is another matter)

The real bull's eye seems to be the Palm Pre.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

LoL yea it kinda does :-D

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Of course they are. They see the Pre coming out and several former Apple employees worked on it. They know it'll be a huge player and they're trying to stop it. If this really does hold up in court its not going to stop other devices from using it, everyone else will just have to license the technology from them. Palm has a lot of technology used in the Pre patented that Apple uses on the iPhone. There are articles saying that if they both went to court on the matter there would be years of litigation and they'd both most likely just license the technology from each other.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

I think Apple will get sued by the Quantum Leap project...
http://i137.photobucket.com/albums/q...tumleap_al.jpg

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

why dont they just apply for a patent on the standard computer mouse? or even the keyboard? or howbout windows apply for a patent on touch screens in general that would supercede apples patent on touch "gestures?" i think this is all bulls**t. it does no good but to impede the developement of better devices for the end user, and possibly cripple smaller companies who could have otherwise come up and out with revolutionary devices.


...exactly whats wrong with corporate america.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

At first I thought this was a rhetorical question but since more than one PPCgeek has asked it the answer is because Apple wasn't the first company to use the mouse. I believe a division of Xerox had the original concept of a graphical UI and mouse but never patented the idea.

As for corporate America... it's basically boils down to one thing. Money. I think before we all jump on corporate America for being greedy, most of us are like that too. It's human nature. We just tend to do it on a smaller scale.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

It was rhetorical, mostly targeted at the idea that "touch gestures" in general seem too basic to patent. Just like patenting a mouse would be too basic. Its something that almost all PCs use. Touch screens are already in use by so many different devices, and the next logical step for all of them is to make the UI more effective with touching...

I dont want to fault anybody for wanting to make money, thats something that makes this country great. But apple is doing just fine without attacking other companies efforts on making touch control more intuitive.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Sorry about that... I just answered it because it was asked earlier too and you never know if someone is really looking for an answer.

But evidently the patent office didn't think it was too basic since Apple actually was awarded the patent. We can always debate on whether it will actually hold up in court but the fact they they were awarded the patent is significant.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

wasn't the microsoft surface developed before the iphone?

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Interesting page :
http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html

In Canada, patent laws says that you cannot patent something that has been out for a reasonable time and is a "common thing". So that would explain why no one could patent the mouse or the touch screen I guess...

For the record, I think this patent is ridiculous, patent should be awarded on algorithm not the concept.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

I thought it WAS based on the algorithm (programming) not just the concept...

See the way I understand this is simple: Lets say someone patented something they called "shocks" for cars, but it was based on powerful magnets, not coil springs. That doesn't mean the shocks that were out for cars that used the coil spring design would be affected, would it?

Its the mechanics behind the way they get these things to work which is getting patented. Touch gestures I could see getting patented though, but not forever. It just seems like some multi-touch gestures are common sense and there's no other methods without making it difficult and weird feeling.

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Well, from dailytech.com :
"Apple was granted a patent for multi-touch, featured in its popular iPhone, on January 20, 2009. The patent encompasses the basic technical deals of multi-touch technology, as well as finger gestures such as pinch, swipe and rotation. Apple's CEO Steve Jobs, currently on medical leave, and Scott Forstall are among those credited with "inventing" multi-touch."

So the article says it encompasses the technical deals of multi-touch so it seems like there's a hardware part to the patent. Also, the patent seems to protect the gestures which are the concept and not the algorithm.

Funny how they say (between quotes) that Jobs and Forstall invented multi-touch

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

well, could it amount to like a royalty thing?? for example, other companies can use, just pay Apple a percentage or something. sounds like an easy fix, especially if the government awarded them the patent and all? if someone wanted to use a variation of the technology, but are not owned by Apple?

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

a good read for everyone:

http://i.gizmodo.com/5142445/dissect...n-it-stop-palm

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

sounds good, most points in the article support that this "apple threat"(of PPC nuclear fallout, lol) wont stand up. cross our fingers??

Re: Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls
 

Capacitive screens are what I was thinking at first when I read this. I'm sure it's mentioned somewhere in the patent about the capacitive screen technology in one way or another.