Apple patents map mobile future The US Patent & Trademark Office recently published a flurry of Apple patents related to location-based services. Some describe unique innovations, while others seem to stretch the USPTO's definition of a utility patent: the invention or discovery of a "new, useful, and nonobvious process, machine, article of manufacture, or …
...or are most of these (or very similar) on modern Sat Navs / PDA's?
maybe these should visit TomTom or Garmin at some point....
Shhheesss everyone says MS copy.
I herby patent a symbol to go at the end of a string of words to signify it's end I will call it a Stop Full the symbol will look like a small dot
Are the terms "invention", "discovery" and "prior art" like the term "irony" to americans - something the just don't understand?
At a rough count I can already do 3/4 of the functions Apply have "discovered" on my Nokia, with Garmin Mobile XT GPS installed on it.
Of the remaining ones I doubt I'd actually WANT to be able to do 1/2 of them (has anyone ever been THAT desperate to get a mobile phone image printed?).
you're all missing the point
if Apple didn't patent these, and then brought a product to market, some other patent troll would suddenly discover they had a patent who's description could be stretched to incorporate the production functionality.
it seems like the patent system blatantly doesn't work, the only solution is to patent everything possible yourself before someone else does. the best defence is a good offense, isn't that an american saying?
"Are the terms "invention", "discovery" and "prior art" like the term "irony" to americans - something the just don't understand?"
Not at all, but they *are* things that the US has decided should be judged in court, not by the patent office. Since I'm not a US citizen, how they manage their IP is not my business. Apple are a US company and are simply playing by the local rules.
The *real* scandal is that other countries accept them. In effect, you can bypass every patent office on the planet by paying a few cents to Uncle Sam. I do not understand why other countries accept without question something that they know has not yet been subject to any verification.
They would see a tall British inventor, me, some years ago now, walk through their front door in Cupertino and leave an envelope with details of three US patents and one Japanese patent describing a full system, not just the hand held. I am told that, as a public company, they have to place to one side sufficient funds to cover any possible claim on such potential infringement.
I look forward to hearing from them in due course.
QUOTE
"The *real* scandal is that other countries accept them. In effect, you can bypass every patent office on the planet by paying a few cents to Uncle Sam. I do not understand why other countries accept without question something that they know has not yet been subject to any verification."
/QUOTE
Countries do not 'accept' other countries' patents (assuming that, by 'accepting', you mean 'registration' or 'enforcement').
Patents are territorial animals: a US patent only applies to the US jurisdiction, end of. Assuming it's granted of course.
Try enforcing a US patent in the UK, for a laugh. Or, for that matter, get these Apple US patent applications granted by the UKIPO or the EPO, for an even bigger laugh (assuming Apple have filed convention applications on the basis of same).
As regards the Apple filings themselves, I have prosecuted applications relating to the exact same subject-matter at least 3 years ago for another (very) blue chip telecoms company, and on the basis of the (old) prior art I battled with, am confident any 'trolling' by Apple would be swiftly and terminally dealt with by an even semi-competent defense team.
Mild gale in a thimble.
Mine's the one with the Form 1200 in the pocket
The Register 
Biting the hand that feeds IT
Copyright. All rights reserved © 1998–2024
