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Appeals Court Bans Features From Older Samsung Phones
walterbyrd writes with news that Apple has finally emerged victorious in a long-standing patent case against Samsung — though it's more of a moral victory than a practical one. Samsung is no longer allowed to sell some of its older phones unless the company disables features that infringe upon Apple patents. "The market impact will likely be limited, since the lawsuit was filed in 2012 and covers products that came out that year, like the Galaxy S3. Furthermore, software updates to Samsung software mean that the patents may not be infringed anymore. For instance, Samsung's Android phones no longer use a 'slide to unlock' feature on the bottom of the phone. In dissent, U.S. Circuit Judge Sharon Prost paints a sharply different picture (PDF) from the majority. 'This is not a close case,' she writes, noting that Apple's patents cover a spelling correction feature it doesn't use, and two others cover 'minor features' out of 'many thousands.'"
Don't just blame the court. In some respect, they are doing their job enforcing an approved patent. The real culprit is the patent office allowing just trivia to be patented. At some level, the courts can overrule, but it is harder than enforcing.
And on doors for hundreds of years.
Sorry, but there are real world analogs to this ... which makes this yet another moronic patent which essentially says "a system and methodology for doing something which is well understood in the real world, but with a computer".
So many of the visual metaphors used in computers are basically copies of things you do with real physical things. Granting patents on them means the concept of patents has become useless.
Lost at C:>. Found at C.