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Steve Jobs Patent On iPhone Declared Invalid
An anonymous reader writes "Apple's most famous multitouch software patents are increasingly coming under invalidation pressure. First the rubber-banding patent and now a patent that Apple's own lawyers planned to introduce to a Chicago jury as 'the Jobs patent.' U.S. Patent No. 7,479,949 covers a method for distinguishing vertical and horizontal gestures from diagonal movements based on an initial angle of movement. For example, everything up to a slant of 27 degrees would be considered vertical or horizontal, and everything else diagonal. The patent office now seems to think that Apple didn't invent the concept of 'heuristics' after all."
Good riddance to this patent. It's yet another example of how the patent office will let just about anything slip by right now.
If putting ONE widget/idea/whatever on a machine is patentable, then putting multiple "things" on a machine is obvious. "Multitouch" is the same a "touch."
Another one: If putting wifi on a computer is patentable, then putting wifi on any computer-like device (tablets, phones, anything using a processor) is obvious.
The trolls are maybe less than half the problem. Letting these companies patent the kitchen sink just because there is a trivial change is a huge part. And they won't pay of examiners that actually know what they are doing because it means a pointy headed administrator will have to be paid less to do it.
As a (up till now) satisfied owner of Apple products, all I can say is: Good.
Maybe if they lose enough of these stupid patents, they'll start thinking less about suing the world into oblivion and go back to doing what made them the company they are now: Making products that delight their customers.
From recent events, it's clear that Apple forgot that part somewhere along the line.
IFF there is a god, I am pretty sure he/she/it is against hoarding cash like crazy.
Tomorrow is another day...
Patents like this are incredibly stupid. It ostensibly doesn't matter who filed them, except that the higher profile the owner is, the more damage it does. The downfall of the patent should be celebrated.
I can't think of anything great that Jobs did. He didn't invent or build anything, high level direction doesn't count for squat in my book. He was the best marketing droid/pitchman of recent history, but that just a shitty thing to be around for the rest of humanity.
Dang, Jobs who died richer than belief, and started a crusade against Google for "stealing" something Jobs never owned, gets seated next to Allah, Buddha and Jesus. But Einstein, Tesla, Maxwell, Newton, and countless others who actually contributed something useful to the world never get mentioned...
That story really puts things in perspective, doesn't it?
Woz: A brilliant engineer and a genuinely good person.
Jobs: A liar who will happily screw over even his closest friends to make a buck.
Which one does the media celebrate?
Required reading for internet skeptics
IFF there is a god, I am pretty sure he/she/it is against hoarding cash like crazy.
So to find out whether there is a god, we just have to find out whether you are pretty sure he/she/it is against hoarding cash like crazy. :-)
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.