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What the Mobile Patent Fight Is All About

Posted by timothy on from the want-to-touch-you-here-and-here-and-here dept.

GMGruman writes "Nokia, Apple, and HTC are all suing each other over mobile patents. Google and Microsoft are also in the game. InfoWorld's Paul Krill explains what the fight is all about: control over multitouch, the technology that enables gesture interfaces on iPads, iPhones, and other smartphones. And he explains the chances that the companies will settle their dispute as they jockey for advantage, why Apple has been playing hardball, and why competitors are fighting back just as hard."

8 of 222 comments (clear)

  1. Novelty and nonobviousness by FlorianMueller · · Score: 3, Informative

    Idea should actually have to be novel and non-obvious.

    Yes, that's the idea and that's what the law says, but every word gets a different meaning under patent law than it has from a common-sense perspective.

    Large parts of what the average person would consider "obvious" is considered "inventive" under patent law. That's why different attempts on both sides of the Atlantic have failed to get those FAT patents revoked. People thought that maybe the courts would be more demanding in terms of the inventive step involved than the examiners at the patent offices, but the judges upheld the original decisions to grant.

  2. Re:To promote the USEFUL arts by powerspike · · Score: 3, Informative

    I think the argument here, isn't that the teleportation is patentable, it's how it's done. They are trying to take control on an idea that has been around for countless years, not the technology that made it possible.
    well that's my take on it anyway...

  3. Re:To promote the USEFUL arts by serviscope_minor · · Score: 5, Informative

    any idiot who has watched any sci-fi

    Sigh. No need to bring that in to it and gloss over the real people involced. HCI researchers have been researching multitouch since the early 80s, or even before.
    http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html

    They did all the real hard grunt work making it actually work. Now a bunch of companies want to swoop in and claim the inventions as their own simply because they want to market it.

    For what it's worth, I do not think that pinch zoom obvious. In 1984. When it was invented. By now, since multitouch is so old, to anyone versed in the HCI world, yeah, this stuff is a mix of pretty obvious and been done before.

    --
    SJW n. One who posts facts.
  4. Re:too much cool-aid by iwannasexwithyourmom · · Score: 3, Informative

    Someone has had too much of Jobs's cool-aid.

    That's "kool-aid" you insensitive clod!

  5. Re:Cross-licensing only works with the willing by DMiax · · Score: 3, Informative

    See, Nokia has sued for money only, not for licensing. I don't get this paranoia about multitouch patents: Nokia does not want them.

  6. Re:Useless shit by DMiax · · Score: 5, Informative

    If multitouch sensors were that easy to create, don't you think we'd have had them in 1980, along with all the craze over touch screens way back when?

    We did. Sorry if I don't read the rest of the post.

  7. Re:Useless shit by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    How fucking hard is it to just look it up?

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Multitouch#History

  8. Re:Useless shit by glsunder · · Score: 3, Informative

    Xerox was the first commercial company to make a GUI. Both MS and Apple hired from the pool of people who worked at Xerox before the mac came out.

    apple Market Cap: 229.19B
    microsoft Market Cap: 253.10B

    I wouldn't really call apple the little guy.