What goes around...
...as Apple are patent and lawsuit happy, only fitting it comes back to haunt them...same for so many other...
After its lawsuits against Nokia and HTC, it's Apple's turn to be on the receiving end. Elan Microelectronics, a Taiwanese chip designer which sued the iPhone maker last year, has stepped up its actions, asking the US International Trade Commission for an injunction barring imports of the iPod Touch, iPhone and iPad. The …
"The US legal system REQUIRES they protect their patents."
Of course it does, the US legal system was created by lawyers and it's mostly lawyers that push patents. Is it any wonder that so many obvious and just shite patents go through? I'd call it job security. Personally, I actually hoped to see a lawsuit based on US patent 6368227 before it was reexamined and rejected.
The ale? Why the hell not.
Patents aren't trademarks. You lose your trademark if you don't protect it.
You don't lose your patent. In fact, in many cases it's in your financial interest not to disclose the fact you you own a patent in a particular area until someone else has done all the heavy lifting to create either an official standard that "infringes" on your patent, or a successful product that is worth a hell of a lot more than your patent is.
That Fail icon applies to you in this case.
I wonder if Elan are in some way responding, as proxy, to the suit Apple filed against Android via the proxy of HTC. Apple picks a fight with HTC and the rest of Taiwan pitch in to help HTC fight back? I bet HTC already have a licence for multi-touch from Elan or are quietly negotiating a settlement if they haven't...
As others have said - this current multi-way patent battle can only end one way - nasty and with much richer lawyers all around.
5,825,352 was originally filed by Logitech (not Elan) on Feb 28, 1996
http://www.google.com/patents?id=IAkYAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&source=gbs_overview_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
Apple beat them to the punch by over a year with patent 5764218 - filed Jan 31, 1995.
http://www.google.com/patents?id=nRcfAAAAEBAJ&printsec=abstract&zoom=4&source=gbs_overview_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q=&f=false
As best I can tell Apple was first.
Yes Steve, I will take a check but cash is better.
I really wish people would bother learning how the system works before babbling on boards like this.
Apple didn't patent multitouch and never claimed to. Apple patented specific items as covered in their patents. Read the patents. Read the claims. Nowhere did they claim to have patented multitouch.
As for this company, the validity of its patent will need to be determined, just as the validity of Apple's patents will need to be determined. If they win, it will have absolutely no impact on Apple's lawsuit against HTC. The two issues are entirely unrelated.
I have read the patent in question (no one should be commenting without reading it) and it's not at all clear that Apple infringes it, anyway. There are a number of differences between what Apple does and what the patent claims - some of them quite fundamental.
Furthermore, even if Apple were found to infringe, royalties would be paid - but the touchscreen manufacturer would almost certainly be the one paying them, not Apple. There's absolutely no way that Apple would be prevented from selling the iPad or iPhone on the basis of this patent.
Apple didn't patent multitouch in general because nobody could - it had been publicly disclosed by Tog years earlier when he was at Sun and did the Starfire video with "pinch to zoom".
I would also hope that a generic patent on using more than one finger on a surface would fail the test of obviousness.
Everybody wants to give two fingers to the computer at some point!