If a company infringes on a copyright or patent that they don't own, the one who owns them should have the right to sue. Fanboys who cheer on Apple as if a court case is a football game is just pointless. People who criticize those fanboys and call Apple an evil company making unlawful suits is even more pointless.
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Apple Reportedly Disrupting iPhone Competitors With Legal Threats Backed Up by HTC Suit
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I'm not surprised on this one at all. Also, this tactic of IP lawyers with bravado in closed meetings is nothing new. Many tech companies in their prime did this in the past. You should see how some semiconductor houses deal with claims on process technologies.
It all comes down to if the Apple patents can hold up scrutiny in Federal Patent Court. An outfit like HTC or Google easily has the budget to throw at attorneys to find prior artwork on Apple's patents and go for invalidation petitions.
But is it worth it? That is a complex question based on revenue streams, licensing and cost of delivery. My take on this is that there will be continued back room discussions. Prior artwork from places like MIT Media Lab and PARC will be presented that could invalidate Apple's claims. A look at the attorney and court fees will be taken into consideration vs. a licensing agreement and so on.
Then everyone on all sides will have martini's at a trendy bar in Palo Alto one night laughing about it.
It all comes down to if the Apple patents can hold up scrutiny in Federal Patent Court. An outfit like HTC or Google easily has the budget to throw at attorneys to find prior artwork on Apple's patents and go for invalidation petitions.
But is it worth it? That is a complex question based on revenue streams, licensing and cost of delivery. My take on this is that there will be continued back room discussions. Prior artwork from places like MIT Media Lab and PARC will be presented that could invalidate Apple's claims. A look at the attorney and court fees will be taken into consideration vs. a licensing agreement and so on.
Then everyone on all sides will have martini's at a trendy bar in Palo Alto one night laughing about it.
Oh, I hope that you're joking.
Please say that you've been following proper hazardous waste
disposal protocols when getting rid of no longer needed Apples....
Searching briefly, I found this website - multi-touch from the 80s.
http://freshervisions.com/articles/multi-touch-interface-in-flash/
It will give you links / search terms to find other sites too.
Just felt the need to clarify this.
Anyone who thinks Apple owns a patent to "THE ONE AND ONLY MULTITOUCH" clearly do not understand how the patent system works.
There can be many, even thousands, Multi-touch patents held by just as many inventive entities out there. Just like someone has already mentioned, it's the matter of how unique one's implementation and application is.
Plz no more comments on how Apple prevented anybody from using two fingers to touch their own body... really..
Anyone who thinks Apple owns a patent to "THE ONE AND ONLY MULTITOUCH" clearly do not understand how the patent system works.
There can be many, even thousands, Multi-touch patents held by just as many inventive entities out there. Just like someone has already mentioned, it's the matter of how unique one's implementation and application is.
Plz no more comments on how Apple prevented anybody from using two fingers to touch their own body... really..
To splice in a comment that the turtlenecked overlord once
said, how about
I guess Apple is only out for themselves and doesn't care
aboutother phone manufacturers changing the world...
about
One history is collected here by a well respected researcher in the field: Multi-Touch Systems that I Have Known and Loved
A famous ex-Apple employee talks about the above site, and about previous pinch examples here.
As far as on a phone, I just posted info on a multitouch design with pinch zoom that was shown before the iPhone was.
And, of course, the Synaptics Onyx concept all-touch phone .
Again, note that none of the patents in the lawsuit are about multitouch.
this might sound like rabid fanboyism. But trust me, its not. Here is my line of thinking of why apple can do what they want in this.
1. Apple made the iphone.
2. NONE of the current handsets out would be here if it wasn't for the iphone. Android, Pre, the new Windows OS and app-marketplaces would not even exist.
3. Those ideas for those phones/OS, or something like them, have surely come up at the respective companies, but were probably laughed out of the room/killed in backroom business dealings, or delayed indefinitely.
4. Apple made their iphone, and patented all their ideas. A fully touch phone and all the interfaces that go with it (all of which were new to phones). Regardless of whether "slide to unlock" is a great idea and is patentable (I sure as hell don't know), no one else used it. Apple made it real. Apple patented it. Apple sells it. Its a software interface. There are many other touch ways to unlock a screen besides sliding. Like sequence touching, lining up icons, or a two finger combo motion in alternate directions.
5. Now all the companies are making blatant iphone competitors, based on the very ideas that Apple based the iphone on. Ideas no other company used or took seriously, as far as I can tell.
6. Apple can defend its patents as far as I am concerned, no matter how superfluous everyone thinks they are. They took the risk, they reaped the reward, and they should get to protect it. I know a little about patent hoarding strategy, so I am not surprised its getting down like this.
I feel Apple is getting close to a monopoly lawsuit since they seem to be nudging everyone out of the smartphone/app business, or making it impossible to compete, yet they hadn't done anything offensive...until now (I am not a lawyer). I feel this patent case to shut down Android/HTC is easily interpretable as an anti-competetive practice. But if I was Apple, I'd be doing the same damn thing. If all these ideas are so basic, so obvious, so universal, why was no one else building phones like this? Screw them. Principles first. I like Apple a lot because thats how Steve rolls AFIK. One principle for the company: it all works together, under the same rules, and its all approved so it all stays in line.
My phone before the iphone was a Treo 650. A TREO 650. Find one. Put it next to the iphone. The only thing they had in common was chat threads. The touch screen was basically useless. No app store. Internet browser was a joke. Email was for emergency use only. Buggy software syncing. Calendar app was balls. Contact list that was...passable. Weak music playing software. The display, icons, and apps were straight out of 1996. And the treo 700....looked the same. Nokias were a little better.
Apple can defend their iphone all they please. As far as I am concerned, it was a bigger leap forward than the ipod and OSX. Old MP3 players were ok. Windows was always passable at the worst, despite the naysayers. I could live in a Windows and Archos Nomad world. But phones were like pieces of crap stuck 5 years behind every other technology and every other country, and going nowhere. Until the iphone.
Maybe I am exaggerating a little, but whatever. Excuse me, I have to wash my fanboy off.
1. Apple made the iphone.
2. NONE of the current handsets out would be here if it wasn't for the iphone. Android, Pre, the new Windows OS and app-marketplaces would not even exist.
3. Those ideas for those phones/OS, or something like them, have surely come up at the respective companies, but were probably laughed out of the room/killed in backroom business dealings, or delayed indefinitely.
4. Apple made their iphone, and patented all their ideas. A fully touch phone and all the interfaces that go with it (all of which were new to phones). Regardless of whether "slide to unlock" is a great idea and is patentable (I sure as hell don't know), no one else used it. Apple made it real. Apple patented it. Apple sells it. Its a software interface. There are many other touch ways to unlock a screen besides sliding. Like sequence touching, lining up icons, or a two finger combo motion in alternate directions.
5. Now all the companies are making blatant iphone competitors, based on the very ideas that Apple based the iphone on. Ideas no other company used or took seriously, as far as I can tell.
6. Apple can defend its patents as far as I am concerned, no matter how superfluous everyone thinks they are. They took the risk, they reaped the reward, and they should get to protect it. I know a little about patent hoarding strategy, so I am not surprised its getting down like this.
I feel Apple is getting close to a monopoly lawsuit since they seem to be nudging everyone out of the smartphone/app business, or making it impossible to compete, yet they hadn't done anything offensive...until now (I am not a lawyer). I feel this patent case to shut down Android/HTC is easily interpretable as an anti-competetive practice. But if I was Apple, I'd be doing the same damn thing. If all these ideas are so basic, so obvious, so universal, why was no one else building phones like this? Screw them. Principles first. I like Apple a lot because thats how Steve rolls AFIK. One principle for the company: it all works together, under the same rules, and its all approved so it all stays in line.
My phone before the iphone was a Treo 650. A TREO 650. Find one. Put it next to the iphone. The only thing they had in common was chat threads. The touch screen was basically useless. No app store. Internet browser was a joke. Email was for emergency use only. Buggy software syncing. Calendar app was balls. Contact list that was...passable. Weak music playing software. The display, icons, and apps were straight out of 1996. And the treo 700....looked the same. Nokias were a little better.
Apple can defend their iphone all they please. As far as I am concerned, it was a bigger leap forward than the ipod and OSX. Old MP3 players were ok. Windows was always passable at the worst, despite the naysayers. I could live in a Windows and Archos Nomad world. But phones were like pieces of crap stuck 5 years behind every other technology and every other country, and going nowhere. Until the iphone.
Maybe I am exaggerating a little, but whatever. Excuse me, I have to wash my fanboy off.
Right . . . so if you invented something, should we all be able to come along and profit by slapping a different sticker on it, but keeping the hardware relatively the same? If you invented a cleaning tool and had a patent for it, should I be able to use the same sort of technology and only change the shape of the handle and make money off of it regardless of how well mine cleans?
I am reminded of stephen colbert - he doesn't know anything, but he FEELS it
Apple is the number three player in the smartphone market. They aren't even close to a monopoly, even if you define the market as smartphones. If you define the market more broadly, Apple is obviously even a smaller player.
They have nothing to worry about from an antitrust perspective.
Actually, with U.S. patent law, a patent holder MUST defend the patent or they will lose the right to defend it in the future.
I always take my computer waste to a metal recycler, he gives me money and he disposes of the toxic chemicals properly.
You need a history lesson. You have some inaccuracies. Fandom is one thing, blind spouting off of supposed facts is another. Not even worth the trouble to try and correct some of the history you just butchered.
i like your sig.
Don't support censorship - buy Android
From the company that's been censoring search results in China for 4 years.
EVIL.
Well, let me tell you. This AINT gonna happen under Bruce Sewell's reign. Do some research on his days at Intel.
i like your sig.
Don't support censorship - buy Android
From the company that's been censoring search results in China for 4 years.
EVIL.
Ditto. I love how people in here hope for DOJ intervention with Apple (LOL). The DOJ is looking at Google these days, and China is a big reason.
Well, let me tell you. This AINT gonna happen under Bruce Sewell's reign. Do some research on his days at Intel.
Also - settling a case is not losing.
The problem is not necessarily with touch, it's more about the exact copying of something. Phones nowadays look like the spitting image of the iphone and on top of that try to mimic it's function. The only thing that is different is performance. They can't copy the OS lol. Oh well too bad. For example, you don't see Apple barking at Microsoft for making a touch table. That's because it's a totally different animal. It's based on a different OS and it's a table. Nokia is supposedly coming out with phone bracelets and the such, based on touch. Apples not gearing up to tear them down . . fanboy or not, it's blatant copyright infringement. How can you directly copy design and TRY to copy the function of something that was previously invented and not expect an envelope and a court date to come flying your way?
iPhone
You know guys, I really do stand with Apple on this one. Some can argue that Apple is a big bully and this and that but if we remember correctly, Apple had this problem before. When Windows came out they stole their idea and pushed them of the throne that rightfully belonged to Apple.
A lot of phones, before the iPhone came out, were plain. They had their own unique OS, maybe some similarities but for the most part they were just plain. Apple comes along and introduces their version of the smart phone. What happens, well the innovation goes right out the door with the rest of the companies and they say "hey, look what they got lets use that." I have been a Mac user ever since my first computer. I know a lot you are Mac loyalists as well and would love to see windows burn, haha. These other companies that copy Apple are a bunch of little windows companies trying to make money of Apple's creativeness because clearly they don't have their own.
I'm on the Apple wagon! Who's coming with me?
You know guys, I really do stand with Apple on this one. Some can argue that Apple is a big bully and this and that but if we remember correctly, Apple had this problem before. When Windows came out they stole their idea and pushed them of the throne that rightfully belonged to Apple.
A lot of phones, before the iPhone came out, were plain. They had their own unique OS, maybe some similarities but for the most part they were just plain. Apple comes along and introduces their version of the smart phone. What happens, well the innovation goes right out the door with the rest of the companies and they say "hey, look what they got lets use that." I have been a Mac user ever since my first computer. I know a lot you are Mac loyalists as well and would love to see windows burn
, haha. These other companies that copy Apple are a bunch of little windows companies trying to make money of Apple's creativeness because clearly they don't have their own.I'm on the Apple wagon! Who's coming with me?
You know guys, I really do stand with Apple on this one. Some can argue that Apple is a big bully and this and that but if we remember correctly, Apple had this problem before. When Windows came out they stole their idea and pushed them of the throne that rightfully belonged to Apple.
A lot of phones, before the iPhone came out, were plain. They had their own unique OS, maybe some similarities but for the most part they were just plain. Apple comes along and introduces their version of the smart phone. What happens, well the innovation goes right out the door with the rest of the companies and they say "hey, look what they got lets use that." I have been a Mac user ever since my first computer. I know a lot you are Mac loyalists as well and would love to see windows burn
I'm on the Apple wagon! Who's coming with me?
I will join the wagon, How much do you get paid?
Yes,you are exaggerating.
I'm wondering how Apple could be even close to a monopoly when they have 16.6% share of the world wide smartphone marketshare ( Q4 2009 ), in 3rd place.