Apple wins patent for iPhone's 'multitouch' technology

Firecat

Firecat

Politically Charged
Joined
Mar 23, 2005
Messages
5,730
http://tech.yahoo.com/blogs/patterson/34848

Apple's newly approved patent (first reported by World of Apple) could spell trouble for Palm, which has a red-hot new phone?the Palm Pre?on tap, which (among other features) includes a multitouch-enabled touch display complete with (you guessed it) gestures like pinching and swiping.
Click to expand...

So
 
Last edited:
Isn't there alot of prior art on this one? How is the iPhone implementation of pinching and swiping different from that of the Microsoft Surface and the countless multitouch screens before?
 
Hercules286 said:
Isn't there alot of prior art on this one? How is the iPhone implementation of pinching and swiping different from that of the Microsoft Surface and the countless multitouch screens before?
Click to expand...

Patent offices around the world seem to be issueing patents then leaving it to the courts to decide if it's a valid patent.
 
Hercules286 said:
Isn't there alot of prior art on this one? How is the iPhone implementation of pinching and swiping different from that of the Microsoft Surface and the countless multitouch screens before?
Click to expand...

I work on said screens, had a touch screen camera and have an ipod touch. They are TOTALLY different from each other. I don't think the patent will cover ALL touch screens just the kind used on the ipod/phone. The ones used on the computer screens and the one on the camera can be used on everything else.
 
They have a patent for their specific system, so Palm or any other competitor will only have to come up with a slightly different system for it to work (I think the popular rule of thumb I have heard is it has to be 10% different from the patented system, not sure if that is true). I kind of doubt that you can patent a hand/finger motion like "swiping" or "pinching" and have that hold up in a court. I also don't think that they can claim a patent for capacitive multi-touch screens in general either, since they aren't the only ones to develop them at the same time.

In the end, I don't think this will stop anyone from doing using this kind of technology really. Apple might get to license the technology out for a while, but in the end it will likely just get to big and diversified to be worth keeping track of.

Its a very similar situation that Color Kinetics had with LED lighting and control systems (you see them all the time but may not have noticed it really). They initially were awarded the patent for any RGB LED lighting systems that could essentially make any color of light at a very reasonable level of brightness, while using a fraction of the power compared to conventional incandescent or flourescent lighting.

For a while, any company that used similar technology had to first go through Color Kinetics and had to post a "Licensed By" sticker on their product. But companies quickly started coming out with systems that did a similar function but in slightly different ways, and there really isn't much that they can do. Color Kinetics is now owned by the Phillips lighting division and is still a major competitor in the LED lighting world, but they are hardly the only ones.

We'll see where this goes I guess.

JH
 
Last edited:
I suppose if they still wanted to use the technology, they could arrange a licensing fee...
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top