back to article WiLAN files appeal in Apple WiFi case

WiLAN, which last October lost a patent case against Apple that had been settled by companies like Dell, HP and Alcatel-Lucent, has decided to appeal the case. Its original case sought nearly a quarter of a billion from Cupertino, but a US jury not only flicked its suit, but also invalidated some of the claims in the WiLAN …

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  1. Destroy All Monsters Silver badge

    A “complex multiplier"

    Yeah, those numbers from ℂ are a well-kept secret.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Devil

      Re: A “complex multiplier"

      Yeah, rounded corners and swipe gestures are top of the art in industrial design and advanced technology :-P

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    So a company with a real tech patent is bad

    But a marketing company with a patent on "rounded corners" and "slide to unlock" is good?

    1. Sean Timarco Baggaley

      Re: So a company with a real tech patent is bad

      The "rounded corners" issue is purely a design language one related to "trade dress" laws. These issues are indeed protected by relevant IP laws. They're the reason you can't just go ripping-off the Coca-Cola swirly logo style on a red background for your own brand if you happen to be making carbonated soft drinks, even if you use a different name. The point is that that style is very recognisable: anyone who sees it on first glance will conflate your product with theirs. It's like slapping a "Sorny" label on a TV: Sony will come down on you like a ton of bricks. Guaranteed.

      If you actually read the relevant documentation, you'd know that the "rounded corners" bit is just a very small part of the whole: Apple were pointing out that all their devices share a common 'design language', and that they believe this is covered under trade dress laws.

      In most countries, they're right.

      *

      As for "slide to unlock": it's strange how everyone seems to think this is so "obvious", yet nobody thought it obvious enough to use it before Apple did. Not one company managed to nail the multi-touch smartphone / tablet GUI until Apple came along, because not one damned company other than Apple truly groks UX design. Not Samsung. Not LG, Motorola, Sony-Ericsson... Not even the once-mighty Nokia.

      If it's so bloody obvious, show us the prior art. Show us the commercially available device that came anywhere near close to what Apple made.

      You can't, can you? You can only point at feeble attempts like the P900, the Palm Pilot, the iPaq, and their ilk, most of which relied on a stylus. And none of which had a full multi-touch UI at all. Sure, you might be able to dredge up some niche product that cost two arms and four legs at launch, but that's like pointing at an F15 and claiming it's exactly the same as a commercial airliner.

      (Surprisingly, Microsoft have actually learned from, and are genuinely competing with, Apple today. They needed a couple of years to get going, but, since the loss of WebOS, MS are pretty much the only game in town that is actually striking out on its own journey, rather than following the herd. Say what you like about its implementation in Windows 8, but ModernUI really is very good on mobile platforms.)

      1. herman

        Re: So a company with a real tech patent is bad

        Actualy, the slide to unlock has been shown to exist before Apple implemented it.

  3. Alan Denman

    "The Court is unable to find that the jury’s finding"

    There are Juries and Apple juries.

    With regards to a Jury, science does not come into it, perception wins out.

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