Scary Smartphone Motion Control Patent Granted

Posted by CmdrTaco on Wednesday March 24, 2010 @03:36AM from the can-i-patent-the-reuben dept.

An anonymous reader writes "On March 16th, the United States Patent and Trademark Office issued a very broad patent on motion control in computing devices, one that seems to cover any smartphone that uses a built-in accelerometer. It was filed in July 2006 and preceded by a nearly identical patent granted in 2004 after a 2001 application. So it predates many of today's popular smartphones — the iPhone, the DROID, the Nexus One, etc. What will happen if the company that owns the patent asserts it?"

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Motion by BoRegardless · 2010-03-24 04:05 · Score: 3, Informative

"What will happen if the company that owns the patent asserts it?"
Easy answer. Negotiations will start.
Patent lawyers will sit down and debate the issues.
They will either agree and buy or license the patent or litigate and then win or pay a license fee.
Happens all the time.