June 23, 2011
By the ZippyCart Content Team
The ongoing quest to overthrow the current king-pin in all things smartphone and tablet related, Apple, may soon be turning the tables on its competitors as the company was recently awarded intellectual property rights for the multi-touch technology that it first debuted in the first generation iPhone. Yes, that’s the multi-touch technology seen in just about every smartphone on every ecommerce sofware platform in the market today.
The patent, entitled “Portable multifunction device, method, and graphical user interface for translating displayed content,” details the touch and control systems Apple used in every model of the iPhone since it first came out.
What this means, competitors like Samsung may have to back down their efforts to take Apple head on. Consider the hey-day Apple lawyers will have in court with any competitor Apple may feel threatened by.
Apple has taken part in several high-profile lawsuits as of late over patent claims, most recently Apple is in a high-stakes dispute with Samsung. In the case of Apple v. Samsung, Apple sued the company in April, saying that Samsung’s Galaxy smartphones and tablets (including over 20 additional devices named in the case) infringed on many patents and trademarks. So in true Al Pacino fashion, Samsung said “I’m out of order? You’re out of order!” and counter-sued Apple for infringing on its patents.
In a rather not-so sneaky, incredibly transparent move, Samsung also filed a request for Apple to hand over unreleased versions of its upcoming iPhone and iPad as the company considered it to be “highly relevant” to its defense. In other words, the company wants to look at its upcoming products to make sure it does doesn’t copyright any of its future products. Well, it’s safe to say the federal judge was just as aware of this move and denied Samsung’s request.
Now factoring in Apple’s big win for a patent that could be a game changer in in this ongoing lawsuit battle over who is copying whom, Samsung may have to bow out gracefully and settle in court for what they can. However, no settlement has been confirmed just yet, but it seems Samsung’s last request is its “Hail Mary” pass before a verdict will be concluded.
With Apple’s patent in place, it is unclear what direction its rivals will have to take and what kind of smartphones and tablets will begin to emerge for sale on a variety of ecommerce software platforms. Perhaps Samsung and rivals alike should be more focused on developing its own signature technology that Apple may one day want to copy.
A native of Seattle, Michelle currently resides in the downstairs of
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Read this:
thisismynext. com/2011/06/22/apple-granted-patent-webpage-scrolling-behaviors-media-crazy/
Nilay Patel is a former patent lawyer himself.
The media is taking things and spinning it as sensationalism.
Then again, you yourself belongs in the mold too.
If you want additional links from more patent lawyers, here it is:
www. litigatingapple. com/blog/2011/6/22/apples-new-patent-covers-all-things-touch-or-not.html%20
Actually I think the whole reason Samsung requested to see Apples was because samsung was ordered to turn over a ton of their unreleased phones n tabs to apple for review in the patent case. Since they had to show Apple everything they felt entitled to see Apples stuff as well. This article makes it sound like they just asked for it out of the blue which isnt accurate
Guess my comments were too offending? Or afraid of that I may have rebuked your article? Quite funny.
Your article claims that this a major breakthrough tha apple has. However many real patent lawyers who actually work in the field begs to differ. for a patent to be infringed you need to meet ALL the frittatas set forth by the application.
Also the patent for the multitouch is very very narrow only explaining two finger scroll gesture on a SPECIFIC double plane window and a sunless plane scroll that would scroll the entire window only when there is a segmented partition.
Perhaps you should’ve read the actual patent application rather than to regurgitate what other sensationalist tech articles are clamoring for much needed clicks?
Your deletion of this comment will only prove my certainty. So go ahead and delete it. If you dare…..
HI @Peter!
Thanks for reading and commenting. I want to first address that the comment section does have to go through an approval process to ensure SPAM is not being posted, please don’t take it personally because your comment was not instantly posted, I hope you do understand.
I truly appreciate your feedback on the article. While I do not claim at any point to be a patent specialist or lawyer in the field, I do however propose topical ideas worth considering and of course, even debating. I do not state that these ideas are in fact, what is to come but rather, question. For a lot of bloggers in tech and ecommerce, we enjoy the culture, and what it brings into our daily discussions whether it’s in the office, at home, or even over Twitter. I hope this article was a part of your discussion today whether you did or did not agree with my points or otherwise, however I do assume the latter. Part of what I enjoy in writing is just that– to get people to talk and even with me! I appreciate the links you sent and I will take a look at them. And if you do feel the need to discuss this further, my email and twitter is on my bio, you seem like a passionate person who has a lot to say and I can appreciate that. Thanks for your insight and thanks for reading!
I take back all the harsh words I lashed out. I’m sorry. I thought my comments were deleted.
However, I do stand by my other statements regarding the topic on hand.