Apple was granted the holy grail of smartphone patents yesterday: a patent on touch



How much will it effect the market? Meh probably not as much as you think. All these large companies have large IP portfolios, basically to do battle with. So if they start running around suing people they'll just get counter sued for some patent they themselves are violating. Becomes a huge legal mess.
 
It could affect the market in lots of small ways.

Example: Amazon's 1-click patent.

Amazon filed a patent infringement lawsuit in October 1999 in response to Barnes & Noble offering a 1-Click ordering option called "Express Lane." After reviewing the evidence, a judge issued a preliminary injunction ordering Barnes & Noble to stop offering Express Lane until the case was settled. Barnes & Noble had developed a way to design around the patent by requiring shoppers to make a second click to confirm their purchase. The lawsuit was settled in 2002. The terms of the settlement, including whether or not Barnes & Noble took a license to the patent or paid any money to Amazon, were not disclosed.


IP patents are a great way to cut the legs out from under your direct competitors, and rebill others (like Amazon did to Apple).
 
You mean patent of multitouch.

Whatever, I took the sentence straight from the article.

Up further investigation, this has to do more with there "scoll bar technology"..

Does anyone else have more information?
 
what ever will the rest of them do when they can't, within a scrolling frame control (WITH multi-touch) something like an EMBEDDED google map that, of course, only a) supports multi-touch controls (ie 1 finger to pan and 2 to pinch/zoom) WITHIN that embedded frame on a scrolling website.

OMGZORS!
 
these guys have enough capital to figure a way around it. bigger and better technology is discovered everyday, especially when you have the cashflow
 
Bill gates is a nerd, Steve Jobs is a huster and the real deal. The only reason people bum over billy is the amount of stock options he still owns in MS.
 
Bill gates is a nerd, Steve Jobs is a huster and the real deal. The only reason people bum over billy is the amount of stock options he still owns in MS.

Not quibble -- but the point of starting a business is to make money: I'd say Gates is pretty fuckin real on that count.
 
Bill gates is a nerd, Steve Jobs is a huster and the real deal. The only reason people bum over billy is the amount of stock options he still owns in MS.

Gates has given over 40 BILLION DOLLARS through his charity, all Jobs has done is use his private jet to be eligible for a liver transplant in two different states.
 
Gates has given over 40 BILLION DOLLARS through his charity, all Jobs has done is use his private jet to be eligible for a liver transplant in two different states.

How do you know Jobs hasn't given quite a bit to charity? Not everyone feels the need to publicize their giving, aka be a media whore over it. Jobs media whores for apple of course, but to say he doesn't give is idiotic conjecture in your part.
 
Software patents are the most absurd thing I've ever heard of.
I absolutely hate them and it's not like they even take any technical knowledge to register you just need to come up with a simple idea and have more money to spend on legal fee's than others and you're laughing.