Japanese Entrepreneur Sues Apple Over Key Flicks and 3D Touch on iPhones and iPads

[charlituna]

Mr. Abe failed in that he never created 3D Touch. He simply "invented" the idea, but he never developed the mechanism for its implementation, therefore his patent should be invalidated.

while current Patent laws don't mandate that you must include implementation I generally agree with you. at least in the case of rather obvious 'inventions' like this. This would be up there with my trying to patent the mere idea of a touch screen.
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In any case, if Apple can raise patent lawsuits over a rectangular phone rounded edges, this is certainly a reasonable challenge.

design patents and tech patents have different rules just like patents, copyrights and trademarks do

 

[MacBram]

That makes the biggest song writers, novelists, screen writers trolls.

Those things aren't patented, they are trademarked or copyright.

Nothing is stopping you from creating a sci-fi saga involving a bunch of different kinds of aliens, factions and spaceships. But get too close to any one of them (call your round spaceship the "Millennium Eagle", or your three-tiered hamburger the "Big Smack") and you will get sued for trademark or copyright infringement (not patent infringement).

So, the question is: is Apple is simply making another spaceship or hamburger, with the same general resemblance that all hamburgers have to each other, and all spaceships have to each other; or is it getting too close to something that is a specific implementation of the concept in question, the said implementation of which should be trademarked or copyright?

Of course, if Apple actually lifted code directly from him, like MS did from Apple and Google did from Sun, then there would be something specific to sue Apple over.

Otherwise, like many have said here, the concept of patenting software as an idea, and not a specific implementation of a software idea, really is too broad and vague no matter how detailed the patent holder gets with his idea, because there is so much more under the surface behind the UI presented to the end user. It would be like being able to patent the idea of four doors on a car, or even a "red car".

 

[Notfroggy]

For those who can't read Japanese Hiragana, in the bottom two pics, the center character is "ka", and surrounding characters are "ki", "ku", "ke", and "ko"...a natural grouping and probably more intuitive to native Japanese speakers rather than typing in the roman character equivalent.

In any case, if Apple can raise patent lawsuits over a rectangular phone rounded edges, this is certainly a reasonable challenge.

Design patents are not real patents (look it up) and are more akin to a trademark. Apple does not hold a patent on "rounded corners" it holds a "design patent" on the look of the iPhone interface. That reserves the look as exclusive to stop people making copies. The same could be true of a handbag, a item of clothing etc etc.

 

[Bacillus]

I'm following their PR brainwashing fluff? what the heck are you talking about. Company takes out patents on things they are working . How is that pr fluff. Because they might decide later a tech is a dead end? Take your Apple hatred elsewhere.
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You must be unaware of the filed/used patents ratio which is near 500/1. Consult the necessary sources before making wild guesses and uninformed opinions that misinform others.
Yes, next to the many things that Apple broadly communicates there are just as many it does not tell you because they want you to see them in a certain way.

 

[smoking monkey]

Isn't this really just the touch screen version of a drop down menu? The concept has been around for quite a few years.

 

[Ploki]

It's a novel concept but one that's been around for thousands of years.

well not all that novel then

 

[chris1958]

The Japanese keyboard shown isn't third party, but the keyboard delivered by Apple.

BTW: The stupid iOS taskbar breaks the Japanese keyboard on the iPad, because the swipe necessary for ceratin characters collides with the invocation of the taskbar.

 

[Fixey]

In the late 90s I developed the same type of UI for a touch screen, had to have a virtual keyboard and it looked very much what Apple came out with when they released the first iPhone.

I was working for an R&D company at the time.

The UI is no more than what was done by others in the past just added swipe and touch rather than a mouse click event so seen it as just what anyone would do with a touch screen, there going to trigger an event on the first touch and a move event to track direction and distance and be able to trigger sub events like shapes swipes rub (moving finger back and forwards quickly) for undo delete etc...

Let’s see how long it takes others to implement rub as I have not noticed anyone doing it yet

 

[VulchR]

And in other news some obscure inventor patents gravity and sues Apple.

 

[Tiger8]

Yeah, and Apple have countless of them that they use. How many does this guy have in use?
The difference is, patent trolls create patent specifically with one purpose on their mind: Bate big fish. That's why they are called patent trolls on the first place.

You never know what his intentions were for this patent, maybe he had some sort of a research project or his funding ended before he could get a working product.

Expanding further, if Apple exits the smartphone market (you never know, look at Nokia and blackberry), are they supposed to stop benefiting from their thousands of patents related to it?

 

[zunamo]

Apples response: But he did not use rounded corners!

 

[BvizioN]

Apples response: But he did not use rounded corners!

Basically this rounded corner thing is something I hear from Samsung fans when they bring up the court case, you know, the one where Samsung cloned the whole thing but pretended it was just about the similar rounded corners. Hilarious, sin't it?

 

[mavis]

For those who can't read Japanese Hiragana, in the bottom two pics, the center character is "ka", and surrounding characters are "ki", "ku", "ke", and "ko"...a natural grouping and probably more intuitive to native Japanese speakers rather than typing in the roman character equivalent.

In any case, if Apple can raise patent lawsuits over a rectangular phone rounded edges, this is certainly a reasonable challenge.

Exactly. This guy patented PRECISELY what Apple did for the Japanese "kana" keyboard: tap the key to get the "ka" character, tap and swipe up for "ku," right for "ki," etc. Unfortunately, Apple uses the same system extensively in iOS 11+, where you tap + swipe DOWN to get punctuation, etc (rather than having to press the SHIFT key) ... The guy patented this idea years ago - his failure to pursue legal action until now notwithstanding, it appears as though he's got a solid claim here.

 

[springsup]

The device can also detect an applied force and direction of motion, which enables a user to simply flick or swipe their finger toward the desired character or function to thereby select that character or function.

It sounds like he's describing something different than the iPad's flick gesture. He's describing a flick towards a button as a shortcut for tapping it, but the iPad involves flicking away from the desired character (i.e. dragging the button itself to select a sub-function of the same button -- a kind of direct manipulation).

The whole thing seems like a bogus patent, though - it's a popup menu, with touchscreens. It's not novel, and I'm sure there is plenty of prior art.

 

[TTGil]

Interesting timing, since it seems that the far more relevant prior art of Autodesk's marking menus would have just expired...

• Kurtenbach, G., "Display and control of menus with radial and linear portions", Filed April 1, 1997, patent #5,926,178

• Kurtenbach, G. and Fitzmaurice G. "System for accessing a large number of menu items using a zoned menu" Filed July 21, 1998 patent # 6,915, 492 B2

Probably a few others as well.

 

[jweinraub]

I bet current patent laws would likely allow the estate of Gene Roddenberry to sue over patent infringement rights to voice control of computers and devices if he had actually filed a patent. It doesn't appear to matter if the patent holder knows how to make it happen, they just have to file the proper paperwork and show a cartoonish concept of it. The creator of the Jetsons (or his estate) could file against anyone who ever invents any of the cool technology in that cartoon series, assuming he filed patents, which I doubt. Patent laws need to be revived.

Wasn't his vision not to copyright those ideas so clever inventors can invent what was seen on Star Trek? His vision for the 23rd century technology was remarkable and amazing how much of it we have now.

 

[truthertech]

For those who can't read Japanese Hiragana, in the bottom two pics, the center character is "ka", and surrounding characters are "ki", "ku", "ke", and "ko"...a natural grouping and probably more intuitive to native Japanese speakers rather than typing in the roman character equivalent.

In any case, if Apple can raise patent lawsuits over a rectangular phone rounded edges, this is certainly a reasonable challenge.

Dangerous to start pointing out realities of patent law on this forum, but you are confusing the basic concept of a design patent (the Samsung case) where, of course, it wasn't about the rectangular shape, but a near identical copy of the entire design that Samsung actually instructed its designers to copy in writing, with this utility patent claim.

 

[Substance90]

Good for him. Apple steals other peoples' IP all the time but they themselves go crazy when someone attempts to use one of their "inventions" like multi-touch screens, that have actually existed as early as the 60s.

 

[Fixey]

I'm pretty sure you could argue prior art - in Windows Mobile 6 you could tap and hold to get a contextual menu. Even Palm OS had something similar. This is essentially right click but with a touchscreen.

Honestly most software patents are so stupid - if it was required to be an actual specific idea I would be fine with them, but people patent the most basic things just because they can.

Also if you ever used macOS if you hold down the mouse button on an item in the dock you get a menu pop up, if you were to add a touch screen it would react exactly the same, you would touch the item keep your finger down and a menu appears and no one coded it to do it, just the touch screen behaving like a mouse

 

[A7ibaba]

Poor Mr.Abe,riped off by honest and truthful Apple

 

[LorenK]

This is not an issue with patent law, but rather an issue with the PTO, which issues patents. There is a similar issue with copyright, and the question is whether what he is claiming is appropriate for patent or copyright law. My understanding is that patent law protects the physical manifestation of an idea, but it doesn't prevent others from coming up with a different means of effectuating the same idea. Otherwise, cars never would have progressed beyond the initial piston engine.

Unfortunately, the PTO does not have the resources to examine every patent application for either uniqueness or prior art, so unless a patent application is challenged, a lot of what I would call crap patents end up being issued. Once issued, patents can still be challenged, but unless someone thinks that there is a real risk to their product, they don't bother. I am aware of a case involving a tool, where a current producer was issued a patent and a competitor created a similar product, i.e. functionally did the same, but relied on a patent issued decades earlier for the design. The current producer sued, won in the District Court, but lost on appeal, all without going to the patent office for a hearing on the validity of the later patent, i might add.

I also question whether all of these patents issued in the software area are even appropriate for patent protection or should be relegated to copyright, since there is no physical expression of the idea, but only software resulting in visual activity on a screen. Just to be clear, I am no expert on either patent law or copyright law, but common sense suggests that these virtual embodiments of ideas were never initially contemplated for protection, whereas copyright clearly was intended for the expression of ideas, which is really what he has done in this instance. Granted others have concluded otherwise, hence the amount of litigation over these patents, but I think that solution has created far more problems in innovation in this area than it has solved.

In any event, the patent holder, and where he lives and of what nationality is absolutely irrelevant to the patent issue, has a long road to enforcing his claim against Apple. Just another example of the need to provide necessary resources to the PTO.

 

[kryogyn]

Toshiyasu Abe, a resident of Vancouver, Washington, has filed a lawsuit against Apple in Oregon district court this week, accusing the company of infringing upon his patent with Key Flicks and 3D Touch on select iPhone and iPad models.

The patent in question is No. 6,520,699, granted by the United States Patent and Trademark Office in February 2003.Like most patents, the description and claims for this one are very long and exhaustive, but from a high level, it at one point refers to a "user interface device" comprising "a plurality of buttons displayed on a touch sensitive screen," with "each button being associated with a plurality of characters or functions."

Here's how the patent is described in the complaint, obtained by MacRumors:There are several other embodiments of the invention, including physical thumb control pads on a mobile phone, notebook, or steering wheel in a vehicle, each with a multitude of pressure-sensitive, geometrically-shaped keys.

Various embodiments of the patent​

The touchscreen embodiment does sound similar to how accented characters are managed on the iPhone keyboard. When a user taps on the E key, for example, a menu appears with diacritics such as È, É, Ê, and Ë. The user then slides their finger over the desired character and releases to input it in a text field.

Abe believes Apple's infringement extends to the Flick Keyboard, introduced in iOS 11 for select iPad models. When enabled, the feature allows an iPad user to simply tap and swipe down on a key to input a number or symbol. If a user taps and swipes down on the D key, for example, a $ symbol is inputted.

The complaint alleges that 3D Touch also infringes upon his patent, given its pressure-sensitive, multifunction attributes.

Apple is also said to be further inducing infringement by aiding and abetting the development of third-party iPhone keyboards and apps that implement flick-style keys and 3D Touch, available through the App Store. Abe, who is Japanese, said flick input has particularly gained popularity in Japan.

Third-party Japanese keyboard for iPhone​

The accused products include at least the following iPad and iPhone models sold in the United States: iPhone 6s, iPhone 6s Plus, iPhone 7, iPhone 7 Plus, iPhone 8, iPhone 8 Plus, iPhone X, iPad Air, iPad Air 2, iPad mini 2, iPad mini 3, iPad mini 4, 9.7-inch iPad, 9.7-inch iPad Pro, and the 10.5-inch iPad Pro.

The complaint alleges that Apple has known of Abe's patent since at least as early as 2009, when he first gave written notice of its infringement. The plaintiff allegedly exchanged a number of emails with Apple, and engaged in at least one phone call with the company's in-house counsel, but no agreement was reached.

Then, in 2017, the complaint alleges that Abe discovered an increase in Apple's infringing activities relating to the release of iOS 11, prompting him to send Apple another patent infringement notification letter last December. Apple and Abe communicated again, through counsel, but nothing transpired from the talks.

Abe is seeking damages adequate to compensate him for Apple's alleged infringement of his patent, in an amount to be proven at trial, but no less than a reasonable royalty. The court still has to agree to hear the case.

Article Link: Japanese Entrepreneur Sues Apple Over Key Flicks and 3D Touch on iPhones and iPads

[doublepost=1529610335][/doublepost]So if I understand correctly, Apple unintentionally infringes on his patent. Then in 2009 he notifies them, they take a look at the patent and say "hey those are great ideas" and then years later they copy all his ideas. Sounds like they should've just hired Mr. Abe. In the end they'll pay him off so everyone wins.

 

[campyguy]

Not judging on the patent issue, but seeing plenty of related customers like RIM, Samsung, HTC, Hitachi, and Sony in the cited list and having crossed paths with Abe and his work in my past I'd offer that Apple may have a bit of an issue to deal with. Also that a company that Abe worked for was and is a supplier to Apple might muck things up a bit...

Edit to add he appears to be a Japanese national, see: https://opas.com/blog/the-story-of-opas-part-1/

I believe you have listed something about not-the-correct Mr. Abe, not an uncommon name. The patent in the OP is held by a pretty smart person, crossed paths with him over the years, and he's worked around Vancouver, not Seattle. His tie-in to The 'Couv was/is Shin-Etsu Handotai (SEH) America, which used to be one of my customers between the late 90s and early '00s (I'm not listing here what I did for them as it was proprietary).

Abe's tie-in to SEH is ceramics, he worked for IBIDEN, a manufacturer of circuit boards and IC packaging. SEH has been in Vancouver since the late 80s AFAIK making silicon wafers. I've been around Vancouver since the 70s, back in a suburb for the first time in around 25 years. I took a few seconds, I use Manta and Justia for my business-related legal/copyright searches, here's more about Abe's work over the years:
https://patents.justia.com/inventor/toshiyasu-abe

I'd heard that he's recently retired...

 

[FairlyKors]

Using the logic and standards of our time— when most of us are accustomed to figuring out how to manipulate new touch screen interfaces intuitively—it’s hard to fathom that this guy’s patent is in anyway unique or novel or outside the realm of common sense design.

Is it because of trollish little patents like this that, for instance, when taking a screen shot on an iPad or iPhone, there doesn’t apear a quarter circle of folders icons around the image in the corner (or a similar scheme) to place and organize the screenshot?

There seem to be obvious and basic UI features missing from Apple iOS, and it’s hard to imagine that it’s the result of a lack of imagination on Apple’s part. I hate patent trolls. And lobbyists. Those two types of humans simply suck the life and humanity out of this world.

 

[Bacillus]

Using the logic and standards of our time— when most of us are accustomed to figuring out how to manipulate new touch screen interfaces intuitively—it’s hard to fathom that this guy’s patent is in anyway unique or novel or outside the realm of common sense design.
Is it because of trollish little patents like this that, for instance, when taking a screen shot on an iPad or iPhone, there doesn’t apear a quarter circle of folders icons around the image in the corner (or a similar scheme) to place and organize the screenshot?
There seem to be obvious and basic UI features missing from Apple iOS, and it’s hard to imagine that it’s the result of a lack of imagination on Apple’s part. I hate patent trolls. And lobbyists. Those two types of humans simply suck the life and humanity out of this world.

Presumably, you don’t count yourself in either category.
Makes it particular to advert your specific ideas and opinions