Patent applications aren't usually the most exciting of things but Apple isn't your usual kind of company. The latest patent to be filed by the Cupertino outfit, and found by MacRumors, is for a new type of keyboard that the company believes could remove the need for a separate pointing device.
After Motorola recently sued Apple over eighteen infringed-upon patents, Apple has delivered a serious counter-punch in the form of two lawsuits over six multi-touch patents which Motorola is infringing upon in nine different handsets.
While there are dozens upon dozens of patents that Apple has been granted, very few reach the quirkiness of the patent that Apple was granted today. The patent handed out day is that of a handheld device (think: future iPods, iPads and iPhones) that use capacitive, resistive touchscreens as as well surface acoustic wave forms (wth?) to recognize your hands/fingers simply by the way you hold it.
Microsoft’s co-founder Paul Allen has sued 11 major companies: Apple, Google, Facebook, eBay, AOL, Yahoo!, Netflix, Staples, Office Depot, OfficeMax and YouTube, claiming that they have violated four different patent rights which his company Interval Licensing LLC owns.
If you haven't been living under a rock or something, you will probably know that it was Apple who first came up with this new innovative way of unlocking phone on a touch-screen with iPhone. The now “Slide to Unlock” screen that you probably see the most on your phone was one of the most “ooh aah” thing of 2007. Same goes for iPhone’s virtual keyboard which had this “letter pop-out” effect which no other phone at that time had.
In what looks like a backlash than anything else, HTC has responded to Apple’s patent lawsuit by filing a complaint with ITC (International Trade Commission), asking for sales ban on iPhone, iPad and iPod in US due to alleged infringement of five patents. This story in now turning similar to Nokia and Apple one in which both the parties have filed federal lawsuits against each other.
Apple has been busy lately in safe-guarding the design and innovation of its products by taking legal cover of patent grant policy. Last month, we saw how Apple filed a legal suit against HTC, for its alleged involvement in infringing 20 iPhone OS patents "related to the iPhone's user interface, underlying architecture, and hardware”.
According to a new patent application filed by Apple Computer Inc., the new and upcoming iPhone OS could offer contact icons on the home screen. These icons can be used to invoke apps, retrieve and display contacts information, or can be modified to display related info, tied to an individual contact. This patent, which was filed back in July 2008 states the following.
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