http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/01/2...-if-you-rip-off-the-iphone-well-go-after-you/
Hmmm. This could get nasty!
Hmmm. This could get nasty!
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Tim Cook gearing up for a fight with Palm?
- Thread starter =MuLti-CeLL=
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He didn't say they were going to sue them. He just said if they ripped off their IP then they wouldn't hesitate. Frankly, I wouldn't blame them if Palm did, indeed, rip of multi-touch.
Apple has patents. Palm has patents (including those of Handspring, who was doing smart-phones years ago). They both know what each other has. I seriously doubt that either side will risk an expensive patent lawsuit/counter-suit battle.
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Well, at least to me, not hesistating to proceed with legal action likely means that they will sue them. I'll like to see how Palm will handle this one. I'm pretty sure they saw this coming from a mile away.
The question is whether they can sue them. I wonder if anyone has a legal patent for panning around a page on a touch screen (by sliding your finger around the touch screen). If multi-touch can be patented, why can this finger action? If so, why aren't they suing anyone?
This is true. Palm probably has some really old-school basic patents. If Apple tries to sue them, this could turn into a legal poop storm. I'm sure this is just posturing by Cooke.
If someone uses copyrighted material that you spent years to develop without your rights, why the F wouldn't you sue? I don't know if Palm did that or not, but if they did, that's exactly what such laws are for.
Then why doesn't Palm turn around and sue them for copying the concept of a handheld computer device. I'm sure Palm has a lot more handheld-related patents than Apple. I'll just sit back and watch the entertainment. Should be just as good as reality TV.
Bloggers keep repeating the same "fact", that Apple has "patents on multitouch".
Yet no one has ever come up with an actual patent to look at, beyond that application that covers specifically the whole iPhone.
Multi-touch is OLD. It also doesn't take years to come up with kinetic-scrolling... it simply takes making a code mistake at first. (At least most people "discover" it that way, when the scrolling can't keep up with a finger and it keeps going after you stop. Then you go, oh cool.)
For that matter, nothing in the iPhone is really new, except to the general public. Slide up keyboard or buttons? Ho-hum, did that myself back in 2000 on a touchscreen handheld. It's actually pretty obvious stuff if you work in this field long enough.
Yet no one has ever come up with an actual patent to look at, beyond that application that covers specifically the whole iPhone.
Multi-touch is OLD. It also doesn't take years to come up with kinetic-scrolling... it simply takes making a code mistake at first. (At least most people "discover" it that way, when the scrolling can't keep up with a finger and it keeps going after you stop. Then you go, oh cool.)
For that matter, nothing in the iPhone is really new, except to the general public. Slide up keyboard or buttons? Ho-hum, did that myself back in 2000 on a touchscreen handheld. It's actually pretty obvious stuff if you work in this field long enough.
I don't think you can sue a product until it ships, in the hands of consumers or customers and generating revenue.
Because the concept of a handheld device isn't copyrighted. I don't claim to know what Apple and Palm have copyrighted (although I assume graffiti is), but if Palm did something that Apple has a copyright on, well, that's copyright infringement. Same thing goes the other way.
sounds like the palm family car might blow up in the driveway tomorrow morning. cook seemed pissed
Mad4MobilePhones came out with a list of what they consider "The 21 most important iPhone patents". Enjoy!
This iteration of Multi-touch is actually fairly recent. Anything else in the past was pretty wonky. Apple just knew who to pull together to make it work well.
And on screen keyboards on touchscreen handhelds are absolute GARBAGE. I should know as I have to use them at work daily. If Apple's multi-touch was on my handheld at work, my work life would be a lot less frustrating. I've actually overheard other people saying the same thing. How pathetic is that?
Ouch! Burned!
Nice!
I'm reading it now.
If Apple does sue Palm, Palm is gonna be is some serious trouble.
However, I think that's only if the Palm Pre is actually presents a slight threat to Apple.
Saw that long ago. That's a REALLY old article, dating from before the iPhone was sold, and had some imaginative reasoning. Many of the links are bad, too.
So... which one(s) do you think are related to this discussion?
Here's a different search. Click here for Apple touch patents.
You can play with the second search field (abstract). Like change to ABST/music or ABST/video.
I'd probably start with:
(Fixed the incorrect link for this)
To be sure, though, this is just the patent application and not an actual granted patent.
That reminds me of the scene from the Batman: The Dark Knight movie when the Joker blows up that lady after she gets in the car.
If Apple has patents, they should sue to protect them. Given Palm's suckiness I wouldn't be surprised if the violated or came extremely close to violating the patent laws/rules to make something that people will actually buy.
Apple has been making the same comments for years. The interesting part about the Palm Pre is that former Apple executive Jon Rubinstein heads up development for that product.
Rubinstein would be a fool to purposely rip-off Apple technology, as he knows better than anyone the lengths Apple will go to protect their intellectual property.
The Palm Pre is supposed to be Palm's saving grace. A lengthy legal battle with Apple would likely be turmoil for their bottom line.
For those that didn't know, Rubinstein created the iPod.
Rubinstein would be a fool to purposely rip-off Apple technology, as he knows better than anyone the lengths Apple will go to protect their intellectual property.
The Palm Pre is supposed to be Palm's saving grace. A lengthy legal battle with Apple would likely be turmoil for their bottom line.
For those that didn't know, Rubinstein created the iPod.
I'll fully admit, this is dense reading and I didn't understand a bunch of it, but this patent seems to be for any sort of action related to touching the screen surface with more than one finger. Although not fully developed, the G1 has been shown to be able to respond to multiple touches as well.
Interestingly, as for uses of multi-touch, the ability to zoom in/out by pinching or spreading fingers is not specifically mentioned in this patent application. However, it may have been illustrated in the images, but I couldn't access those.
Yeah, it makes you wonder if Palm's lawyers know something that we are not privy to. This is likely the scenario. Palm wouldn't purposely rip something off if they knew they could never defend their case.