Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Apple Sued Over iPhone Browser

Posted by CmdrTaco on from the just-this-once-then dept.

SpuriousLogic writes "A Los Angeles real estate developer is suing Apple for patent infringement over the way the iPhone navigates Web sites. The suit, which was filed on behalf of EMG Technology, seeks unspecified damages. EMG Technology is a company that holds the patents of Elliot Gottfurcht, the real estate developer, as well as Marlo Longstreet and Grant Gottfurcht. The company claims that the iPhone infringes on patent 7,441,196 — a patent that was approved only last month, after a filing process that began on March 13, 2006. That patent is for an invention that displays 'on-line content reformatted from a webpage in a hypertext markup language (HTML) format into an extensible markup language (XML) format to generate a sister site.' This sister site is a simplified version of the original site that is then displayed on any number of devices — including cell phones, EMG says."

23 of 225 comments (clear)

  1. Oh, well... by MaxwellEdison · · Score: 2, Funny

    That is certainly a necessary invention for a real estate developer...otherwise how could they display information about their latest housing projects or large malls on an iPhone?!

    --
    -=Bang Bang=-
    1. Re:Oh, well... by Theaetetus · · Score: 5, Funny

      That is certainly a necessary invention for a real estate developer...otherwise how could they display information about their latest housing projects or large malls on an iPhone?!

      You're only allowed to invent something that you can personally use? You do know that tampons weren't invented by a woman, right?

    2. Re:Oh, well... by larry+bagina · · Score: 4, Funny

      you do know that they were originally developed for diarrhea, don't you?

      --
      Do you even lift?

      These aren't the 'roids you're looking for.

    3. Re:Oh, well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Funny

      I suppose(itory) you're right...

    4. Re:Oh, well... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0, Funny

      Yeah, they were invented by a man so the woman would quit her bitchin'.

    5. Re:Oh, well... by FreakinSyco · · Score: 5, Funny

      Your shitting me right?

    6. Re:Oh, well... by chill · · Score: 2, Funny

      That's Hedley!

      --
      Learning HOW to think is more important than learning WHAT to think.
  2. Oh boy... by Linuss · · Score: 5, Funny

    I hope my patent for hamburgers is approved soon, i filed it in 1607 and want to sue mcdonalds. truth.

  3. Re:Question by MaxwellEdison · · Score: 5, Funny

    Do both, and then walk in to your boss's office and give them a hug. Offer no explaination when pressed.

    --
    -=Bang Bang=-
  4. Re:Patent reform by bigmouth_strikes · · Score: 5, Funny

    How long before we see a patent on "a system of placing letters and numbers in sequential order in order to convey something meaningful"?

    Sadly, there's no prior art for this on the internet...

    --
    Oh, I can't help quoting you because everything that you said rings true
  5. pitiful by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    this reads like the first chapter of every book about XML, titled "why use XML?". Gee - ship out XML and transform according the the display-location's needs and abilities.

    I'm patenting a system wherein the movement of the person's diaphragm enables the lungs to draw i air thereby retaining consciousness and enabling continued living".

  6. Re:But... they sued the wrong company by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Anyone have any other ideas? :)

    5) They're a real estate company that doesn't know their head from their ass. -ets.

  7. Re:Patent reform by Sun.Jedi · · Score: 4, Funny

    How long before we see a patent on "a system of placing letters and numbers in sequential order in order to convey something meaningful"?

    Sadly, there's no prior art for this on the internet...

    Yes. There is. /. is a great example.

  8. Simpsons by forgoil · · Score: 4, Funny

    Worst... patent... ever...

    Just kill patents now, please, they are just in the way and never ever actually protects individuals, only capital, and money should flow to help innovation, not be collected by greedy old men to lure attractive (but oh so dumb) women to be with them.

  9. Did I miss the memo? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    Is today Patent Wednesday or something?

  10. What do you expect by qazwart · · Score: 4, Funny

    When does Apple ever do anything creative?

    (WARNING: The above post contains a large amount of sarcasm. It is not intended to be taken seriously. If you feel a need to argue with this point ("No way, Dude! Apple is the bestest company in the whole wide world!). Go download an iPhone application. I hear there's a new one out that's nice and shiny. If you want to defend this post (Yeah, Apple Sucks!). Go back to your PC and marvel at the wonders of Vista. If you only use Linux as your operating system, let your parents know I feel sorry for them.)

  11. Re:Junk patent: lots of prior work by fahrbot-bot · · Score: 2, Funny

    The patent examiners seems to have missed all the prior work at WWW.

    Ya, but this patent adds "on the Internet". :-)

    --
    It must have been something you assimilated. . . .
  12. Re:Patent reform by Anpheus · · Score: 4, Funny

    Well, you'rr wronajf aopfjawr pojasf poawtj ow ao BANANA BANANA BANANA BANANA

  13. Re:Yet another patent troll by geobeck · · Score: 5, Funny

    I think Apple can come up with enough "prior artwork" for this one.

    Changing "prior art" to "prior artwork" paints an interesting picture of a potential courtroom exchange...

    "I would like to present Exhibit A, "Motherboard Descending a Staircase" by Ed Picasso, painted in January 2006. Despite its neo-cubist style, this work shows an example of "client hardware architecture" much more clearly than the patent troll--I mean, defendant's patent documents.

    --
    Find environmentally and socially responsible products on http://buy-right.net
  14. Re:Looking to test Bilski? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    I dunno, if I discovered a way to browse webpages on my screwdriver, I'd probably be able to patent it legitimately... :D

  15. Prior art... by Gunark · · Score: 2, Funny

    I wrote software to do exactly this back in 2003. We took pages written in XHTML and ran an XSLT transform on them generating simplified XHTML for the then-primitive Blackberry browser.

    The idea was that we could write one rich user interface in XHTML, viewable through a regular web browser, and then used the XSLT transforms to degrade the interface for a simplified browser. This was supposed to be one of the miracles of XML. In practice of course it turned out to be more work than if we had just manually created a different set of pages.

  16. Re:Patent reform by jellomizer · · Score: 2, Funny

    They can't all of them have been patentented.

    --
    If something is so important that you feel the need to post it on the internet... It probably isn't that important.
  17. Re:Looking to test Bilski? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Funny

    sorry buddy, mexicans already beat you to it! :D