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| USPTO invalidates Apple's bounce-scroll patent |
| By Thom Holwerda on 2012-10-23 22:39:18 |
| "Samsung's got to be pretty happy right about now, after learning that the US Patent and Trademark Office has filed an initial ruling declaring Apple's rubber-banding patent invalid, as reported by FOSS Patents. The news was good enough that Samsung decided to share it with friends, that is, if US Federal Judge Lucy Koh can be considered a friend. According to the ruling, which Florian Mueller says isn't final, all 20 claims of Apple's patent (No. 7,469,381) are now invalid, including one that the iPhone maker had leveraged against Samsung in their recent legal showdown. The office found that Apple's invention was either anticipated by prior art (from Lira and Ording) or, in some cases, simply obvious." One down, 93485763827563856 to go. |
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| Yes! |
| By piotr.dobrogost on 2012-10-23 23:06:39 |
|
Yes! Go to hell Apple! Edited 2012-10-23 23:07 UTC |
 - Score: 18 |
| Excellent news |
| By crystall on 2012-10-23 23:50:57 |
|
I think this is excellent news and not only because of its direct implication. The good part of it is that it might be the beginning of a landslide. Apple is only one of the heavyweights that have been using ridiculous patents in legal battles, a number of other companies and patent-trolls did use them as well, and maybe this time they pushed it too far. They've pushed it so far that it seems some scrutiny is finally coming to them. And if scrutiny comes a lot of these patents will be invalidated turning what are now menacing war-chests of patents into mountains of worthless paper. And that would do a lot of good to this industry, killing patent-trolls in the process and re-opening a number of research fields that nobody dares to approach right now because of fear of litigation from the incumbents. |
| - Score: 19 |
| USPTO |
| By kwan_e on 2012-10-23 23:51:43 |
| Yes, let's keep on encouraging the USPTO to Think Different about obvious patents. |
| - Score: 9 |
| RE: Excellent news |
| By cdude on 2012-10-24 00:10:11 |
|
Yet still the patent was a win for Apple and cost Samsung already serious money. What would be needed right now is to also take actions out of this. Apple needs to pay compensation for all possible damage done by using those invalid patent(s) against competition. Only then it may have an effect otherwise companies continue to ask for patent-protection for trivial things, the overworked patent office grants them and a new weapon is born that can be used with no limits AT LEAST till invalidated and with NO consequences. Just keep on to get more obvious trivial patents granted then invalidated and keep the invalidators busy enough to have enough time left to do serious damage. Edited 2012-10-24 00:13 UTC |
| - Score: 13 |
| User interactions .. |
| By acobar on 2012-10-24 00:37:05 |
| should never, ever, qualify to be patentable. No slide-to-unlock, one-click-buy or any gesture. I think this would be the shortest small fix possible to software related patents. |
| - Score: 12 |
| Not so fast, fanbois |
| By MysterMask on 2012-10-24 01:21:31 |
|
"The patent office decision (PDF) is not final, but it is interesting. Apple's rubber band claim is rejected because of two pieces of prior art, one a patent by AOL and the other a patent by the very same Apple employee responsible for the rubber band patent." http://arstechnica.com/apple/201... |
| - Score: 1 |
| RE: Excellent news |
| By WereCatf on 2012-10-24 01:35:24 |
|
> I think this is excellent news and not only because of its direct implication. The good part of it is that it might be the beginning of a landslide. Oh, you youngsters. This was either a PR-move or just a random brainfart, it won't happen again in a long, long time -- there's just too many wheels to grease and pockets to fill, you know. |
| - Score: 4 |
| RE[2]: Excellent news |
| By kwan_e on 2012-10-24 01:42:17 |
|
> > I think this is excellent news and not only because of its direct implication. The good part of it is that it might be the beginning of a landslide. Oh, you youngsters. This was either a PR-move or just a random brainfart, it won't happen again in a long, long time -- there's just too many wheels to grease and pockets to fill, you know. I would have thought it's because the USPTO is swamped with patent filings that they just grant them and wait for the lawsuit to require a re-evaluation. It will happen with the next big lawsuit, which this will hopefully scare off for some time. |
| - Score: 4 |
| Dominoes |
| By Lorin on 2012-10-24 02:20:39 |
| Now comes the domino effect, every Apple patent in this space has prior art, attacking Samsung with those very deep pockets was a huge mistake as they will work to invalidate every one of them. |
| - Score: 2 |
| RE: Yes! |
| By UltraZelda64 on 2012-10-24 03:22:31 |
| I second that. |
| - Score: 4 |
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