Key Claim of Apple's 'Rubber Banding' Patent Once Again Found Invalid by U.S. Patent Office

[Renzatic]

You know, you're right. The secret of Apple has never been in innovation; it's been in execution.

That's my opinion of Apple. They rarely ever come up with anything truly Brand New with a capital B and an N. But they do what they do so well that it almost seems like they did when you first see their stuff in action.

The logical conclusion is that, in spite of what people have been saying, Apple doesn't need to innovate to stay on trajectory; what they need to do is continue to have terrific design and execution.

I wouldn't go quite that far. While I'd say iOS is still arguably a smoother package than Android, the gulf in quality between the two is just about nil these days, and is getting closer and closer with every new release Google makes. As far as features and flexibility go, Android is already starting to outpace iOS in a lot of fundamental ways, and Apple does have to at least keep up with them there if they want to stay competitive.

 

[Popeye206]

It was certainly a more touchscreen-centric one. Whether that was truly unique or not is up to debate.

WHAT? Sorry... nothing came close to what the iPhone brought to the market in 2007. The iPhone was truly revolutionary and to deny that is really silly... it took years for anyone to even come close to the overall experience of the iPhone.

 

[paul4339]

********, they had it first. I had never seen it until I saw it on the first iPhone.

It's not really the point in this ruling. This latest decision the claim was "deemed anticipate (i.e. not-novel)". So regardless of who came up with it first, it just isn't unusual/inventive enough to be patent-able.
.

 

[Bubba Satori]

Well, if these patents are invalid, it should be ok to copy cool ideas from Android now.
It has to work both ways.

Hopefully cool ideas like multitasking and file systems for adults.

 

[Renzatic]

WHAT? Sorry... nothing came close to what the iPhone brought to the market in 2007. The iPhone was truly revolutionary and to deny that is really silly... it took years for anyone to even come close to the overall experience of the iPhone.

It was a life changing experience that altered the way I look at the world!

Yeah, the end user experience was better than what came before, but that's what Apple does best. They're the people who make things smooth and easy to use. But if you look at the technology behind the iPhone, it's really just an iterative update to the PDAs and smartphones that were already out there beforehand.

 

[e-coli]

No point in filing patents anymore. They invalidated the entire iPhone patent (unbelievably), so what's the point, really?

...oh right. Lawyers get paid.

 

[samcraig]

It was a life changing experience that altered the way I look at the world!

Yeah, the end user experience was better than what came before, but that's what Apple does best. They're the people who make things smooth and easy to use. But if you look at the technology behind the iPhone, it's really just an iterative update to the PDAs and smartphones that were already out there beforehand.

It was slick and fun to play with. I'm not sure a lot of people here really (really) remember what it was like to use the very first iPhone and iOS 1.0. It was fun to play with. No doubt. And slick (like I said). But as far as functionality - it was pretty limited. Especially compared to the blackberries and treos of the world.

I honestly think some people either forget or have clouded memories. Some memories omit the fact that there were no apps (app store) at launch and not for quite some time. And this is on top of several other missions in iOS 1.0.

I'm not saying the iPhone wasn't a great phone or it didn't bring anything new to the table. But like you said - iterative.

 

[TennisandMusic]

So who made a product even close to an iPhone before Apple? Who implemented and used rubber-banding before Apple? Apple invented the competition when it invented iPhone. Samsung, Motorola, Nokia would all still be pushing their stupid flip phones and Palm would be on another useless iteration of its Treo if it weren't for Apple.

Ah how quickly we forget that the things you take for granted today in your smartphone were mostly invented, and implemented, by Apple. But today you say it's normal and everywhere, but that wasn't the case just five years ago. Credit the Apple. They took the risks, they made the investments, and they deserve to block anyone who has stolen their concepts.

LG Prada? Announced and released before the iPhone.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada

 

[Oletros]

They invalidated the entire iPhone patent (unbelievably), so what's the point, really?

What is an "entire iPhone patent"?

 

[KPOM]

And apples stock falls again as another of its "key patents" fails to stick.

Time for apple to sue the Patent office ? or perhaps time for apple to stop Patent Trolling to get its competitors products out of the way and get back to innovating its products so they sell on their own merits.

i remember a time when apples products stood out from the competitors, and they released new, fresh improvements that were one step ahead of the competition, now it seems everyone else is 10 steps ahead and apple are stuck in the corner eating paste with glitter on it.

Less of Sir Ives -"lets make it thinner and shiny-er", more technical enhancements and disruptive new features, please apple (including a little door that gives the magical ability to swap out the memory and HDD on your products again, THAT would be a disruptive change)

I think the volatility in Apple's stock price has little to do with a $1 billion judgment or lack thereof. It was irrationally priced at $700. If it didn't make a meteoric rise and fall but instead rose steadily from $300 3 years ago to $430 now people wouldn't be so worried about the company. People forget it was 6 years between the iPod and iPhone.

Jony Ive is a big part of Apple's success. I like his industrial design, and it is trend setting. Even Google is copying the overall look and feel. And thinner is better. The future is mobile, and smaller is almost always better.

I don't want Apple producing products that do nothing but check off boxes on spec sheets. Design is as much about what you leave out as what you put in.

 

[aerok]

If people want to see real innovation in the mobile industry, here are few very important one that shaped what the iPhone is today

Motorola DynaTAC - The first commercial mobile phone

IBM Simon - The first smartphone and the first touch screen phone

Calypso Wireless C1250i - First phone with built-in wifi

I could name many more but point being is that Apple did not start anything new, they took existing innovations and made one fabulous package.

----------

Even Google is copying the overall look and feel.

How does any Nexus products have an industrial design?

 

[samcraig]

And thinner is better. The future is mobile, and smaller is almost always better.

Errr

That would depend on what the use case is. Is thinner better always? No. Not at the expense of longer battery life. Not necc. at the expense of having better imaging hardware that might require greater depth.

And smaller is almost always better is also based on use case. If smaller was almost always better - big screen phones/phablets wouldn't be as popular as they are right now.

 

[the8thark]

... What's the point, even if I prove to you that Samsung Mobile division spends more money than Apple, you'll find another lame argument to argue that Apple spends more...

Apple spends less on R&D fact. But Apple has more effective R&D output per $ spent in R&D. And that in my books is better.

 

[aerok]

Apple spends less on R&D fact. But Apple has more effective R&D output per $ spent in R&D. And that in my books is better.

The question was not about if it was better or not, the OP was suggesting that other manufacturers did not spend a lot of money of R&D and was free riding on Apple's research, which is false in everyway possible.

And as for your claim that Apple has more effective output per $, on what do you base this on? Opinion?

 

[samcraig]

The question was not about if it was better or not, the OP was suggesting that other manufacturers did not spend a lot of money of R&D and was free riding on Apple's research, which is false in everyway possible.

And as for your claim that Apple has more effective output per $, on what do you base this on? Opinion?

How does one even quantify that statement? How many patents get filed?

Personally - I don't really care what a company spends on R&D. What matters is that their product is the right tool for the job I have. Whether they spent $1 or a million to get there is THEIR problem. Not mine.

 

[Renzatic]

I honestly think some people either forget or have clouded memories. Some memories omit the fact that there were no apps (app store) at launch and not for quite some time. And this is on top of several other missions in iOS 1.0.

...or like most people, didn't pay much attention to the iPhone until the 3G came out. What most people don't remember is that the iPhone 1 didn't exactly set the world on fire. It was neat, sure, but it didn't sell all that well.

It wasn't until the 3G showed up, AT&T subsidizing the phone to take the edge off the price tag, and the "there's an app for that" commercials started airing that everyone and their grandma started wanting one.

 

[Roessnakhan]

And thinner is better. The future is mobile, and smaller is almost always better.

If a phone is made thinner at the detriment to the battery, I couldn't care less how thin it was.

 

[Renzatic]

Plus there's a point when thinner and lighter becomes less a feature and more a waste of time. I think the iPhone 5 is skirting the edge of that. Sure, it could be thinner, and it could be lighter, but assuming there wouldn't be any sacrifices in doing so, what would be the reason for it? I can't think of any advantages it'd bring.

...other than me forgetting it's in my pants, and I end up losing it in the wash.

 

[the8thark]

The question was not about if it was better or not, the OP was suggesting that other manufacturers did not spend a lot of money of R&D and was free riding on Apple's research, which is false in everyway possible.

And as for your claim that Apple has more effective output per $, on what do you base this on? Opinion?

I agree. Others do spend a lot on R&D too.

And I base my claim on the ratio of R&D spent to profits gained. R&D only has 2 purposes, to help humanity and to generate eventual profits. And since for most companies only profits matter, then . . . well you get my point.

 

[ChrisA]

Time for Apple to sue the United States Patent Office....

Are you kidding. I wish the USPO would toss out MORE software patents. For the most part they are never "inventions" it just style and "look".

Apple needs to create new stuff. It used to be they did that all the time. Now it's just changing the the screen size or making the camera have more pixels. Nothing really new.

 

[aerok]

or making the camera have more pixels. Nothing really new.

But but but but they said they use sapphire now

 

[isoft7]

Karma is the worm that will destroy this Apple.

 

[lordofthereef]

People who arent willing to give Apple ANY credit in putting together the form of smartphone everyone uses today should remember it took Android another 3 years after the first iPhone to make its equivalent smartphone.

I see everyone saying Apple didnt do anything, they just ripped off Samsung et al, bloody annoying reading all this as I remember sitting open mouthed looking at Jobs presentation of something I had not seen before, a total package of technologies that reinvented what a smartphone was and what it could do.

How it took the idea of a smartphone out of the business sector, and put it in the hands of everyone.

And 3 years later its competitors put out their similar looking devices.

Then 3 years later everyone moans that Apple didnt do anything, and they should stop ripping everyone else off.

Bad Apple.

I honestly haven't read a single post that even remotely implied that Apple didn't do anything. Plenty of people are making the claim that they feel that recently Apple has been doing less of their own innovation, and more pulling ideas from other operating systems along with suing everyone under the sun. It's pretty hard bit to see that. Apple did a ton from 2007 up until around the iPhone 4 launch. Since then, I certainly feel it has been rehashes of the same and attempts to stomp the competition into the ground using legal battles.

The silly thing is that this entire thread was born from a patent that Apple had that was invalidated. Why are people so angry? Yet I see this all the time. Apple wins a patent battle and the apple fans rejoice while the android fans call it stupid. Now a patent that apple had is found to be illegitimate and it's the other way around. Everyone here knows patent law better than the experts I guess.

 

[Nightarchaon]

Excuse me, but Apple can't be patent trolling. To be a patent troll, you have to hold a patent but not use the patent in any product your company makes. Since they own the patent and actively use it in products they are not patent trolling. They are protecting their property.

They also Patent Troll by patenting things like a SHAPE or a feature thats been used before years ago in a now failed product, or by patenting things that are blatantly NOT patentable. Apple also patent a lot of crap just for the hell of it, have you seen the number of apple patents for styli and their use with tablets ? do you see an iPen in the near future.

 

[aerok]

I honestly haven't read a single post that even remotely implied that Apple didn't do anything. Plenty of people are making the claim that they feel that recently Apple has been doing less of their own innovation, and more pulling ideas from other operating systems along with suing everyone under the sun. It's pretty hard bit to see that. Apple did a ton from 2007 up until around the iPhone 4 launch. Since then, I certainly feel it has been rehashes of the same and attempts to stomp the competition into the ground using legal battles.

The silly thing is that this entire thread was born from a patent that Apple had that was invalidated. Why are people so angry? Yet I see this all the time. Apple wins a patent battle and the apple fans rejoice while the android fans call it stupid. Now a patent that apple had is found to be illegitimate and it's the other way around. Everyone here knows patent law better than the experts I guess.

Well said, it is just so silly when people take these stories so personally.