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Apple 'pinch to zoom' patent rejected by U.S. in initial ruling
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VictorT
selinz
Funny but I thought that the pinch to zoom was one that Apple actually had some ...
The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office issued a preliminary ruling against Apple Inc.'s "pinch-to-zoom" patent, which Apple used as a cornerstone of its case against Samsung Electronics Co.
The agency rejected all claims in Apple's patent on Wednesday, according to a document issued by the patent office that was filed by Samsung in federal court in San Jose, Calif. The document lists portions of the patent that were struck down on reexamination, on the basis that prior patents covered the same inventions.
The patent office said that in order for the Apple's claims to be valid, they must be considered patentable despite any "prior art patent and printed publication cited." In a detailed report, the agency said they did not.
The agency rejected all claims in Apple's patent on Wednesday, according to a document issued by the patent office that was filed by Samsung in federal court in San Jose, Calif. The document lists portions of the patent that were struck down on reexamination, on the basis that prior patents covered the same inventions.
The patent office said that in order for the Apple's claims to be valid, they must be considered patentable despite any "prior art patent and printed publication cited." In a detailed report, the agency said they did not.
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Phluph
12/31/2012 4:08 PM EST
Excellent!
It is about time that the USPTO started rejecting most 'touch gesture' related patents! Stuff like that has been not only been long ago published but also has already been incorporated into many different types of graphic touch screen devices long before Apple (or anyone else) decided to apply them to tablets or a smartphone.
Now the USPTO needs to start applying that same logic to other patents. Just because someone is first to apply OLD tech to a new type of device should NOT make said technique patentable.
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Robotics Developer
1/7/2013 4:04 PM EST
Phluph, I agree! I wonder how many patents would be invalidated if COMMON Sense was applied. Some things are just an obvious application, like patenting a voice input for a device - how long have humans been talking? Innovation at least should be "invented" not re-purposed, at least at a first pass that makes sense to me anyway.
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seaEE
12/31/2012 9:00 PM EST
I guess that means no one can patent the boot to reboot their computer.
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selinz
1/8/2013 2:46 PM EST
Funny but I thought that the pinch to zoom was one that Apple actually had some rights to. Anyone know who did it first?
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VictorT
1/9/2013 10:08 PM EST
maybe this on from TED?
http://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_han_demos_his_breakthrough_touchscreen.html
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