Apple sues HTC for infringing 20 iPhone patents

[CyberPitz]

http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/02/apple-sues-htc-for-infringing-20-iphone-patents/

"We can sit by and watch competitors steal our patented inventions, or we can do something about it. We've decided to do something about it," said Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."

A list of Patents that Apple has submitted *They gave over 7000 to the courts....*

* The '331 Patent, entitled "Time-Based, Non-Constant Translation Of User Interface Objects Between States," was duly and legally issued on April 22, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
* The '949 Patent, entitled "Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics," was duly and legally issued on January 20, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '949 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B.
* The '849 Patent, entitled "Unlocking A Device By Performing Gestures On An Unlock Image," was duly and legally issued on February 2, 2010 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '849 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit C.
* The '381 Patent, entitled "List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display," was duly and legally issued on December 23, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '381 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit D.
* The '726 Patent, entitled "System And Method For Managing Power Conditions Within A Digital Camera Device," was duly and legally issued on July 6, 1999 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '726 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit E.
* The '076 Patent, entitled "Automated Response To And Sensing Of User Activity In Portable Devices," was duly and legally issued on December 15, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '076 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit F.
* The '105 Patent, entitled "GMSK Signal Processors For Improved Communications Capacity And Quality," was duly and legally issued on December 8, 1998 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '105 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit G.
* The '453 Patent, entitled "Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor," was duly and legally issued on June 3, 2008 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '453 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit H.
* The '599 Patent, entitled "Object-Oriented Graphic System," was duly and legally issued on October 3, 1995 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '599 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit I.
* The '354 Patent, entitled "Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods," was duly and legally issued on July 23, 2002 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '354 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit J.

I think they feel threatened....

 

[Sulkdodds]

Some of these patents sound incredibly vague and general. Where's Manny Macx when you need him?

 

[xcellerate]

I think they feel threatened....

if they were the first people to patent them, then it's their duty to make sure nobody else infringes on their rights. I mean would you want a competitor capitalizing on something you patented?

 

[CyberPitz]

As was stated, those are extremely vague and broad patents. It looks like they were trying to own any and all things touch screen on a telephone.

I wonder what they did for the iPods...

 

[xcellerate]

well all the patents have to be reviewed before being issued so the patent officer must have felt that they were specific/original enough.

I think you should shift your issues to the patent office for issuing vague patents, not to apple for suing over companies infringing on their patents.

 

[ríomhaire]

As was stated, those are extremely vague and broad patents. It looks like they were trying to own any and all things touch screen on a telephone.

I wonder what they did for the iPods...

Patented concentric circles probably.

 

[Ravioli]

wtf these patents doesnt even make sense...its like trying to patent the steering wheel...or the pen.

 

[CyberPitz]

well all the patents have to be reviewed before being issued so the patent officer must have felt that they were specific/original enough.

I think you should shift your issues to the patent office for issuing vague patents, not to apple for suing over companies infringing on their patents.

Eh, I think they are just pissed they no longer hold the smartphone market anymore, so they are lashing. Those patents shouldn't have been made to begin with. Patenting the unlocking of the phone by moving an image. Seriously?

I should patent the way I tie my shoes. I'll be rich!

 

[VirusType2]

"Conserving Power By Reducing Voltage Supplied To An Instruction-Processing Portion Of A Processor,"

This is the one I have a problem with. You can patent reducing voltage to an electronic component?

 

[YROC]

brb, gonna patent my morning routine of getting up and going straight to the bathroom.

 

[Raziaar]

well all the patents have to be reviewed before being issued so the patent officer must have felt that they were specific/original enough.

I think you should shift your issues to the patent office for issuing vague patents, not to apple for suing over companies infringing on their patents.

Sounds like the patent officer knows shit all about electronics though.

A patent where "LIGHTNING" COURSES THROUGH METAL STRANDS! MUAHAHAHAHA!

 

[Shamrock]

Every Tech blog I've read seems to think Apple is issuing this based on the Android OS. It seems as though they are indirectly targeting Android by going through HTC. If you check out the Engadget link, they said that when you read the court documents, they only mention the DSP chip in the WinMo phones, but they complain about Android for the other phones.

Hm. I wonder what's going to happen. Is it possible for the Patent office to relinquish the patents held by a singular person/company because of the incredible vagueness of it or by the sheer fact that they basically allowed, "Use your finger as an input," as a patent for Apple?

 

[Schall]

"List Scrolling And Document Translation, Scaling, And Rotation On A Touch-Screen Display"

What.

 

[Shamrock]

The '354 Patent, entitled "Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods," was duly and legally issued on July 23, 2002 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '354 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit J.

What in the **** does this mean? So this means a normal cell phone user receiving a text message and hearing it via the sound he has chosen, or is it something completely unrelated that only Apple's crypt keeper knows about?

 

[Raziaar]

We're young, we're hip, we're different... we like suing people like all the rest of the suits.

The '354 Patent, entitled "Object-Oriented Event Notification System With Listener Registration Of Both Interests And Methods," was duly and legally issued on July 23, 2002 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '354 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit J.

What in the **** does this mean? So this means a normal cell phone user receiving a text message and hearing it via the sound he has chosen, or is it something completely unrelated that only Apple's crypt keeper knows about?

It just sounds like a generic ****ing object oriented event notification system. Very vague. Event notification, for example, is like when you move your mouse cursor... windows fires off events that programs can listen for and react to(such as getting mouse cursor position, delta, etc).

VERY ****ING VAGUE AND GENERIC SOUNDING PATENT.

These are patents that NEVER should have been granted. Edison would be rolling in his grave.

 

[Emporius]

I want the inventor of the touch screen to come out and bitch slap Apple with a lawsuit.

 

[Raziaar]

I want the inventor of the touch screen to come out and bitch slap Apple with a lawsuit.

Yeah... that's REAL patent material right there.

 

[Shamrock]

It just sounds like a generic ****ing object oriented event notification system. Very vague. Event notification, for example, is like when you move your mouse cursor... windows fires off events that programs can listen for and react to(such as getting mouse cursor position, delta, etc).

VERY ****ING VAGUE AND GENERIC SOUNDING PATENT.

These are patents that NEVER should have been granted. Edison would be rolling in his grave.

Oh god. You're so correct, Raz. *clicks to close Firefox, gets bombarded with a notification, Apple sues* DAMN IT!

I don't believe how Apple can patent this shit! Did they just pour money into the patent office and basically buy them out to receive these patents?

 

[MuToiD_MaN]

Ugh. Don't even get me started about this patent stuff. There's a slide-to-unlock mechanism in WinMo 6.5 by default IIRC. Is Apple going to sue Microsoft too?

 

[Acepilotf14]

What.

 

[dfc05]

Patented concentric circles probably.

I'm pretty sure they have "Scroll using a circular thing" patented.

Despair Inc (the company that makes demotivational posters) managed to get a registered trademark for the Frownie, as in using :-(. They haven't sued anyone over it obviously -- it was just meant to show how ridiculous patents/trademarks can get. But they do have a real trademark on :-(

Also, someone has patented Exercising a Cat by Moving a Laser Pointer Around

 

[Uriel]

My hatred for Apple grows every day. I hope one day someone sues the ever living crap out of Apple. Easily one of the greediest I've seen.

 

[ríomhaire]

I'm pretty sure they have "Scroll using a circular thing" patented.

Despair Inc (the company that makes demotivational posters) managed to get a registered trademark for the Frownie, as in using :-(. They haven't sued anyone over it obviously -- it was just meant to show how ridiculous patents/trademarks can get. But they do have a real trademark on :-(

Hopefully Apple will use it and get sued.

 

[unozero]

I love my Ipod...but god damn shit like this pisses me off.

 

[15357]

I will dance on Apple's grave.

 

[smwScott]

I can't believe they managed to get a patent on touching a screen with more than one finger. But this is clearly to get at Google/Android. They're likely just targeting HTC as opposed to Motorola or Google itself because they're a relatively small company and they're looking for an easy win to establish precedence.

Estimates say Android is on track to overtake the iPhone's market share in 2011. Not to mention the OS is much, much better than the locked-down bare bones iPhone "OS". You can't even multi-task or do simple shit like customize the desktop.

Apple is a terrible company, but I haven't cared too much because they mainly only **** over and rip off their own dumbass customers. They create these closed environments where once you buy the device you're locked into paying for their overpriced, shitty services if you want to make full use of the features. Oh yeah, and they have an openly stated policy of banning any apps that compete with them.

The only reason anyone would buy an iPhone is because it's trendy or they don't know any better. Except for the sheer number of apps (which is nearly meaningless as the vast majority are duplicates/pure shit), other smartphones OS's like Anroid, WebOS, and even WinMo 6.5 beat it hands down.

 

[Eejit]

Um, I'm fairly sure patents usually involve more than just the title, most likely a bunch of the most vague-sounding patents refer to a particular method of doing 'whatever'.

 

[Viperidae]

Um, I'm fairly sure patents usually involve more than just the title, most likely a bunch of the most vague-sounding patents refer to a particular method of doing 'whatever'.

Was about to say, afaik the title is usually very general but the patent itself is usually very specific with illustrations (from seeing some of Sony/Nintendo's patents on Kotaku).

 

[Raziaar]

Um, I'm fairly sure patents usually involve more than just the title, most likely a bunch of the most vague-sounding patents refer to a particular method of doing 'whatever'.

Was about to say, afaik the title is usually very general but the patent itself is usually very specific with illustrations (from seeing some of Sony/Nintendo's patents on Kotaku).

Do you honestly think that you'd read the specifics and be all, "Ohh... okay. That's so specific and unique I have no problem with it.", or do you think it's going to be a case of that patented frowny face... something that is actually just supremely generic that managed to pass.

 

[Baal]

I'm a proud iPhone owner, and I love my iPods, but this is appears to be mostly bullshit. I just don't know how you can possibly patent this kind of stuff.

* The '949 Patent, entitled "Touch Screen Device, Method, And Graphical User Interface For Determining Commands By Applying Heuristics," was duly and legally issued on January 20, 2009 by the United States Patent and Trademark Office. A copy of the '949 Patent is attached hereto as Exhibit B.

I'm pretty sure this refers to the algorithms they built to determine whether a user meant to type "hello", as opposed to what they actually typed, "hellp". I don't see how you can patent the notion of this. I can condone patenting the specific algorithms they wrote to perform these functions, but unless Google stole them, I just don't see it.

 

[danil1]

google will f*** them up

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZGwYrZLvvJU