

Can Apple Patent the Pinch? Experts Say It's Possible - nreece
http://www.wired.com/gadgets/miscellaneous/news/2008/02/multitouch_patents

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imgabe
Nice.

I'm going to file a patent for putting my arms in the air and waving them like
I just don't care.

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mixmax
There are three criteria for taking out a patent:

1) It must be non-obvious to a person skilled in the field

2) It must be novel

3) It must be useful

So I don't see why they shouldn't be able to patent it. Unless there is prior
art.

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dkokelley
_2) It must be novel_

I think this is where Apple is going to have a hard time. There have been
several other devices that had a sort of "multi-touch" capability, which might
render Apple's multi touch non-novel, and prevent it from receiving a patent.

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mixmax
I haven't seen the "pinch" idea anywhere before, so I think they might have a
pretty good chance there.

Of course I haven't done any research on the matter either...

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greatreorx
Jeff Han's presentation at TED in February of 2006 was the first I had seen of
multi touch like this.

<http://www.ted.com/index.php/talks/view/id/65>

You'll notice in the photo application that he pinches to zoom in and out.

I pray that the difference between using the exact same technology on a 4 inch
screen that you had seen on a 40 inch screen isn't novel, but with our patent
office these days it won't surprise me.

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tlrobinson
The article also mentions Apple began filing patents for these things in
_2004_ , and they acquired FingerWorks, which may have been working on such
technology for even longer.

I believe Apple's implementation of the multitouch hardware/software is unique
( _very_ different than Jeff Han's FTIR method) which certainly is patentable,
though that's a different issue than the gestures.

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wallflower
U.S. Patent #5,493,618 "Method and apparatus for activating switches in
response to different acoustic signals"

a.k.a. The Clapper "Clap on, Clap off"

<http://tinyurl.com/3cp6cd>

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serhei
... make way for return of __The Look And Feel Lawsuits __...

Remember when the GUI was copyrighted?

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redorb
"a new and useful process, machine or a composition of matter,"

The exact anti-definition of 'pinch'

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tlrobinson
It's not like Apple is patenting the "pinch" per se, they're patenting the
method of using a pinch gesture for a very specific purpose: zooming in and
out. It obviously doesn't apply to people making pinching gestures in any
other context.

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aneesh
"Pinching" is definitely not unique to the iPhone. Microsoft's Surface has
similar features to zoom in/out.

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tlrobinson
It doesn't matter if it's unique _now_ or not, if Apple filed a patent first
(note: possibly _before_ the iPhone was even announced) and there was no prior
art, then as far as I know they're entitled to it.

