http://www.theage.com.au/digital-li...st-the-tip-of-the-iceberg-20110803-1ian5.html
Apples iPhone and iPad patents so broad virtually all major competitors could be targets
Samsung may have to ditch multi-touch
Apples tablet and smartphone patents are so broad that virtually all major competitors could be targeted by the company if it is successful in its legal tussle with Samsung, Asher Moses reports for The Age. Intellectual property experts say Samsung would have to significantly hobble the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for the Australian market if it hopes to avoid infringing Apples patents.
Florian Mueller, an intellectual property expert who has been intimately following the smartphone patent battles around the world via his blog, said the patents cited by Apple in this case would have to be declared invalid by the court or Samsung wont be able to build a Galaxy Tab 10.1 that consumers want to buy, Moses reports. The patents are so broad that they cover the basics of multi-touch gestures both the hardware and software implementations and functions like slide to unlock and list scrolling. Mueller said the fact that Samsung had agreed to hold back its launch of the Tab indicated it believes Apples case has merit.
Moses reports, Kimberlee Weatherall, an Australian intellectual property lawyer, blogger and academic, agreed with Mueller. She said while some of the patents in the case related to specific Apple features such as the way that lists and websites scroll on the iPhone, including the bounce when you get to the bottom others were far more general and covered most multi-touch gestures used on the screen. If that [patent] claim is valid, that would be quite a restriction on the look and feel of an alternative tablet, she said.
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The Galaxy Tab is already hobbled. Anything more and there's no point to it.
Apples iPhone and iPad patents so broad virtually all major competitors could be targets
Samsung may have to ditch multi-touch
Apples tablet and smartphone patents are so broad that virtually all major competitors could be targeted by the company if it is successful in its legal tussle with Samsung, Asher Moses reports for The Age. Intellectual property experts say Samsung would have to significantly hobble the Galaxy Tab 10.1 for the Australian market if it hopes to avoid infringing Apples patents.
Florian Mueller, an intellectual property expert who has been intimately following the smartphone patent battles around the world via his blog, said the patents cited by Apple in this case would have to be declared invalid by the court or Samsung wont be able to build a Galaxy Tab 10.1 that consumers want to buy, Moses reports. The patents are so broad that they cover the basics of multi-touch gestures both the hardware and software implementations and functions like slide to unlock and list scrolling. Mueller said the fact that Samsung had agreed to hold back its launch of the Tab indicated it believes Apples case has merit.
Moses reports, Kimberlee Weatherall, an Australian intellectual property lawyer, blogger and academic, agreed with Mueller. She said while some of the patents in the case related to specific Apple features such as the way that lists and websites scroll on the iPhone, including the bounce when you get to the bottom others were far more general and covered most multi-touch gestures used on the screen. If that [patent] claim is valid, that would be quite a restriction on the look and feel of an alternative tablet, she said.
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The Galaxy Tab is already hobbled. Anything more and there's no point to it.
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