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6 patents from Illinois 1 lawsuit:

5,311,516 Paging System Using Message Fragmentation to Redistribute Traffic
5,319,712 Method and Apparatus for Providing Cryptographic Protection of Data Stream in a Communication System
5,490,230 Digital Speech Coder Having Optimized Signal Energy Parameters
5,572,193 Method for Authentication and Protection of Subscribers in Telecommunications Systems
6,175,559 Method for Generating Preamble Sequences in a Code Division Multiple Access System
6,359,898 Method for Performing a Countdown Function During a Mobile-Originated Transfer for a Packet Radio System

6 patents from Illinois 2 lawsuit:

5,359,317 Method and apparatus for selectively storing a portion of a received message in a selective call receiver
5,636,223 Methods of adaptive channel access attempts
6,246,697 Method and system for generating a complex pseudonoise sequence for processing a code division multiple access signal
6,246,862 Sensor controlled user interface for portable communication device
6,272,333 Method and apparatus in a wireless communication system for controlling a delivery of data
7,751,826 System and method for E911 location privacy protection

6 patents from Florida:

5,710,987 Receiver having concealed external antenna
5,754,119 Multiple pager status synchronization system and method
5,958,006 Method and apparatus for communicating summarized data
6,008,737 Apparatus for controlling utilization of software added to a portable communication device
6,101,531 System for communicating user-selected criteria filter prepared at wireless client to communication server for filtering data transferred from host to said wireless client
6,377,161 Method and apparatus in a wireless messaging system for facilitating an exchange of address information

At some point these "unnamed patents" that are allegedly being infringed need to see the light of day.

It took a surprising amount of searching to find it, as most of the stories did not list the patents, but I found a couple of sites ([1], [2]) that have them. Here's the list from [2]:

• U.S. Patent No. 5,579,517 ("the '517 patent") entitled: "Common name space for long and short filenames." According to Microsoft, the patent generally relates "to data processing systems and, more particularly, to a common name space for long and short filenames.
• U.S. Patent No. 5,758,352 ("the '352 patent") entitled: "Common name space for long and short filenames."
• U.S. Patent No. 6,621,746 ("the '746 patent") entitled: "Monitoring entropic conditions of a flash memory device as an indicator for invoking erasure operations." According to Microsoft, the patent generally relates "to flash memory devices, and more particularly, monitoring when to perform an erase operation in a flash memory device."
• U.S. Patent No. 6,826,762 ("the '762 patent") entitled: "Radio interface layer in a cell phone with a set of APIs having a hardware-independent proxy layer and a hardware-specific driver layer." According to Microsoft, the patent generally relates "to application programming interfaces (APIs) and, even more particularly, relates to a Radio Interface Layer comprising a set of APIs." Only this patent within the group relates to the product known as the "Motorola Charm."
• U.S. Patent No. 6,909,910 ("the '910 patent") entitled: "Method and system for managing changes to a contact database." According to Microsoft, the patent generally relates "to mobile computing, and more particularly to updating a contact database within a mobile computing device."
• U.S. Patent No. 7,644,376 ("the '376 patent") entitled: "Flexible architecture for notifying applications of state changes." Microsoft states in their patent that "Briefly described, the present invention is directed at unifying state and notification architecture across devices."
• U.S. Patent No. 5,664,133 ("the '133 patent") entitled: "Context sensitive menu system/menu behavior." According to Microsoft, the patent generally relates "to the field of user interfaces for computer systems, and more particularly to graphical user interfaces wherein a user selects from a collection of graphical representations displayed upon a video screen corresponding to actual computer resources."
• U.S. Patent No. 6,578,054 ("the '054 patent") entitled: "Method and system for supporting off-line mode of operation and synchronization using resource state information." According to Microsoft, the patent generally relates to "to the support of on-line and off-line transmission and synchronization of data. More specifically, the present invention relates to systems and methods that eliminate redundant data transmission and allow multiple copies of data to be synchronized so that incremental changes made to one copy of the data can be identified, transferred, and incorporated into the other copy of the data, regardless of whether the incremental changes are made on-line or off-line."
• U.S. Patent No. 6,370,566 ("the '566 patent") entitled: "Generating meeting requests and group scheduling from a mobile device." Microsoft's patent abstract describes the patent this way: The present invention includes a mobile device which provides the user with the ability to schedule a meeting request from the mobile device itself. The mobile device creates an object representative of the meeting request and assigns the object a global identification number which uniquely identifies the object to other devices which encounter the object. In addition, the mobile devic

the cops could have avoided all that trouble, and then it would just be a he-said/she-said scenario. Neat. Clean.

The poster was being sarcastic. Here is what Apple has planned for your personal freedom.

"In some embodiments, a device could, based on received infrared data, disable a function of the device. For example, an infrared emitter could be located in areas where picture or video capture is prohibited, and the emitter could generate infrared signals with encoded data that includes commands to disable the recording functions of devices."

the cops could have avoided all that trouble, and then it would just be a he-said/she-said scenario. Neat. Clean.

Apple sues Motorola claiming their Android phones violate patents

Microsoft sues Barnes and Nobles over Android Patent violations in the Nook

Microsoft Sues Motorola for Android patent issues

Oracle is suing Google and if they win, want all revenue from Android to be given to them along with an injunction forbidding sales of all Android phones etc.

I couldn't find anything about Sony suing over Android, but they are suing LG over "Sony Technology" but the details aren't out so maybe that's over Android.

There are MANY more examples than this (such as Microsoft's suit against HTC a while ago) but to say that "None of these companies are harassing people for using Android" is just fallacious. They are. You may return now to your regularly scheduled rant.

Did you actually look at the figure in the Apple patent D627,790? A row of indicators (signal strength, battery,etc) at the top and icons that are rectangular with rounded corners arranged in four columns with three rows a gap and a fourth row. Samsung has four columns and five rows. The arrangement of icons in columns and rows is obvious, and has been done for many years. Surely you are not suggesting that four columns is a significant and patentable design element.

Icons are the superficial aspect of a GUI interface. A representation of a calculator is the most reasonable and obvious icon to represent a calculator application, likewise many other applications have a very limited number of appropriate representations. I am not aware of any case law that suggests that Apple, or any entity would be allowed to monopolize such representations through design patents based on the limited claim. Trademarks may protect the specific images for applications for which trademarks have been secured.

My point also coincides with this article that more or less demonstrates my point. The problem is clearly hard enough that Apple have filed a patent for a solution. Just look at the solution! A weird ass pen with a jointed floaty disk on one end and accelerometers. Plus a bunch of software.

All to make a pen which will presumably cost $$$ and all to approximate what a resistive screen would offer out of the box. That was the point I was making. Resistive is sometimes better where note taking is a critical requirement of a device. I'd add that there are hybrid screens that could offer resistive style input with capacitive for light touch so it's not necessarily either / or.

off of another company expensive R&D

Clearly you're not talking about Apple. Most of their inventions (including but not limited to those patented) are quite trivial - check out Patently Apple some time. Apple's just good at identifying, integrating and commercialising other people's work. Then marketing it with the zeal of Mohammed.

Oh, for goodness sake, when is timothy going to a) learn to link to the original source and not some third-rate blog and b) learn to distinguish between a patent application and a granted patent?

Link to original source: Apple Working on the Next Wave of Digital Camera Technologies

Link to U.S. Patent Application 20100238344

Here's why the patent system is broken.

Apple has a patent application for arranging music information (read: any information) into different shapes. http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2010/09/apple-provides-us-with-a-peek-at-spirals-a-new-itunes-ui-feature.html. They describe spirals, squares, rectangles, a helix from the side. Even a map of the USA. But why stop there? You might as well just patent information and pictures arranged into any pleasing geometric or recognizable form! Abstract goastee arrangment? Sure! Lady Gaga's face? Why not! Patented granted!

People can take things that are completely abstract and patent the whole net of ideas. Not only are patents too abstract, they usually aren't novel. Like this Apple one. It's sick.

Here's an idea. Cut the patents and rely on copyright after the fact. Or would that require that people actually do work before getting a reward?

See figure 5 of the patent application. Not sure what this means for the whole thing. Did someone at Apple just throw together a few ideas, and patent them all? The language and the "art" seems vague enough for it. Unfortunately, I'm not a lawyer, so I have no clue whether something like this means that the entire patent application can be tossed out, or whether vague language means it can't be enforced.

Either which way, this is about as lame as patent applications come. It really sounds like someone looked around at existing platforms and said "let's patent them all."

I recall that Apple only has method patent for multi-touch, they don't have hardware level patent for it. Maybe this other company has something of that sorts.

http://www.patentlyapple.com/patently-apple/2010/03/the-patent-wars-apple-reveals-new-high-end-multi-touch-technology.html#more