Apple sour over ownership dispute
By: Anthony Valva
Issue date: 3/12/10 Section: Views
Man, is the fur flying.
Apple announced it's going to sue cell phone manufacturer HTC for infringing on twenty patents that are "related to the iPhone's user interface and underlying architecture and hardware."
Some of the other patents include an "object-oriented multitasking system", an "extensible, replaceable network component system" and a "method and apparatus for distributing events in an operating system".
Well, doesn't that last patent sound like… um… what's the word… A COMPUTER?!
Another one of the patents is "unlocking a locked touchscreen". Yes, unlocking a locked touchscreen. How does one patent that?
How about I patent the movement of moving my hand when I open a door? Now you have to pay me to enter your home. Game's over, losers! I have all the money! Muhahahaha!
So what does Steve Jobs think about all of this?
"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. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."
Wait, doesn't that sound familiar? Well it should, because Nokia is being accused of the same thing and Apple also called out Palm as well, though it hasn't led to a lawsuit... yet.
Most of the phones that would be filed under these patent infringements are running the Google OS called Android. Now there is a lot of history between Android and Apple.
First of all, Apple asked Google not to include multitouch in their newest phone: the Nexus One. Google complied.
When Apple took a jab at the Nexus One claiming that it wasn't as good as the iPhone, Google pushed out an update for the Android OS that enabled multitouch on the Nexus One.
Granted, Apple has a patent on multitouch capabilities but it isn't a strong patent and can be worked around; thus the ability for Google to release out such an update without fear of repercussions.
Apple announced it's going to sue cell phone manufacturer HTC for infringing on twenty patents that are "related to the iPhone's user interface and underlying architecture and hardware."
Some of the other patents include an "object-oriented multitasking system", an "extensible, replaceable network component system" and a "method and apparatus for distributing events in an operating system".
Well, doesn't that last patent sound like… um… what's the word… A COMPUTER?!
Another one of the patents is "unlocking a locked touchscreen". Yes, unlocking a locked touchscreen. How does one patent that?
How about I patent the movement of moving my hand when I open a door? Now you have to pay me to enter your home. Game's over, losers! I have all the money! Muhahahaha!
So what does Steve Jobs think about all of this?
"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. "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."
Wait, doesn't that sound familiar? Well it should, because Nokia is being accused of the same thing and Apple also called out Palm as well, though it hasn't led to a lawsuit... yet.
Most of the phones that would be filed under these patent infringements are running the Google OS called Android. Now there is a lot of history between Android and Apple.
First of all, Apple asked Google not to include multitouch in their newest phone: the Nexus One. Google complied.
When Apple took a jab at the Nexus One claiming that it wasn't as good as the iPhone, Google pushed out an update for the Android OS that enabled multitouch on the Nexus One.
Granted, Apple has a patent on multitouch capabilities but it isn't a strong patent and can be worked around; thus the ability for Google to release out such an update without fear of repercussions.
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