Apple Mines App Store Submissions For Patent Ideas

I Don't Believe in Imaginary Property writes "Apple has started filing a bunch of patents on mobile applications. That might not be so interesting in and of itself, but if you look closely at the figures in one of the patents, you can see that it's a copy of the third-party Where To? application, which has been on the App Store since at least 2008. There's also a side-by-side comparison which should make it clear that the diagram was copied directly from their app. Even though it's true that the figures are just illustrations of a possible UI and not a part of the claimed invention, it's hard to see how they didn't get some of their ideas from Where To? It might also be the case that Apple isn't looking through the App Store submissions in order to patent other people's ideas, but it's difficult to explain some of these patents if they're not. And with the other patents listed, it's hard to see how old ideas where 'on the internet' has been replaced with the phrase 'on a mobile device' can promote the progress of science and useful arts. This seems like a good time to use Peer to Patent."

Comments

No-doubt this is how Steve Jobs gets all ideas.

[Anonymous Coward]

There is evidence of Apple getting all it's technology
by reverse-engineering all of it from competitors: stealing.
Just ask Woz.

Me: Hey woz, you know Steve Jobs realy didn't mean to be so heartless as he was to you.  He's just thinking about the future.  Deep down, he's realy a good guy.
Woz: How deep down?
Me: About 6 feet.
Woz: ^v^
Me: :-)

Re:It'll be fun seeing

[jamesdood]

Well for one thing, once it has been "applefied" it will be safe and warm and fuzzy, not scary like those crazy open source things or locked down in a corporate way like those evil microsoft things.. Taste the soylent green ... mmmmmm.....

I can

[AnonymousClown]

You see, this is about protecting the developer and protecting users. See, unlike Microsoft, Apple will patent these ideas so that the developer, who doesn't have the resources that the big benevolent Apple has, and therefore, prevent cheap, buggy, hard to use, crappy knock-offs. The Apple user benefits because they are assured of a quality software product - unlike Microsoft.

So? How did I do?

Re:I can

[Nerdfest]

So? How did I do?

If it was a little more arrogant and terse, it could be one of Steve's emails.

Re:It's not a good thing but not the problem state

[Anonymous Coward]

Contrast this to people such as yourself, who are pathologically incapable of admitting when Apple does something good.

Yes, it's like ignoring the fact that someone apologizes after pissing on your head.

Re:It's not a good thing but not the problem state

[recoiledsnake]

So you see, Apple users can easily admit when Apple is doing something wrong, and in fact even correct you about why it is wrong - because we are thinking more rationally about the real problem, and not just about how much we hate Apple and hey here's an awesome negative article on something Apple is doing.

HAHAHAHAHHAHAHHA. BWAHAHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHHA. BWHAHAHAHAHHAHAHAHA....

wipes tears...

Thanks, I needed a good laugh.

Re:It'll be fun seeing

[Anonymous Coward]

Not locked down in a corporate way?! WTF Apple are you talking about?! They're worse at that than Microsoft...

Re:It'll be fun seeing

[easyTree]

*sound of something flying overhead*

Re:It'll be fun seeing

[ichthyoboy]

Looks like 'woosh' season is starting earlier this year. Damn you, global warming!!

Re:RTFA

[causality]

Since there were like 5 articles linked perhaps being more explicit next time will help those of us who are less wizened than yourself.

FYI, "wizened" means "old" or "withered" or "shriveled". It is not in any way a synonym for "wisdom".

No offense intended, but if your idea was to convince people that they did not correctly understand the intended meaning of your post, incorrectly using a word that is easily referenced is not a good way to do so.

Re:And the phrase of the day is....

[Theaetetus]

Class action law suite.

That's what class action lawyers book when they go out of town?

Re:RTFA

[Anonymous Coward]

I'm not saying you're Glenn Beck. I'm just saying, "Isn't it interesting no one is asking the question of whether bonch is Glenn Beck? Don't you think they both throw crazy conspiracy theories out as questions or asides and paint those they disagree with as having an agenda, while ignoring their own? And isn't it interesting that none of us have seen them in the same room at the same time?"

Re:SUBMISSION IS WRONG: Link here

[Fast Thick Pants]

Side note, careful with the word "application" here, since it's generally got a different meaning in patent contexts. Let's just grit the teeth and say "iPhone ap".

[And since I'm here giving language advice while typing out "iPhone" using Apple's candy-ass gen-Y capitalization like a mooneyed shill, let me just say: "iPhone" is pretty silly, granted, but "Iphone", which is /.'s alt-text for iPhone topics, is somehow even worse.]

Re:SUBMISSION IS WRONG: Link here

[IrrepressibleMonkey]

If you don't want to see shear ignorance on slashdot, just start ignoring timothy and kdawson

Sure, those guys have repeatedly demonstrated that they have little or no knowledge of hair removal methodology or technique.

I guess you could say that their 'shear ignorance' was sheer ignorance.

Sorry.

Re:Copyright lawyer, not patent

[Chrisq]

If you can recommend a good, affordable patent lawyer, please let us know.

There are no affordable patent lawyers, good or otherwise.

The only good lawyer is a dead one. I'll see what I can dig up.

Re:SUBMISSION IS WRONG: Link here

[godefroi]

Cut it out.

Re:It'll be fun seeing

[Anonymous Coward]

TLDR: I can't tell if you are an Apple hater or a fanboi. Plz tell me so I know whether to mod you up or down. Thx.

Re:SUBMISSION IS WRONG: Link here

[Ironhandx]

I'm sorry, but I have to state my undying love for whoever modded this to +4 informative.

Re:It'll be fun seeing

[Hognoxious]

You want a sound effect? There's an app for that!