

Apple patent application for retail card transactions on mobile devices - pitdesi
http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sect2=HITOFF&p=1&u=%2Fnetahtml%2FPTO%2Fsearch-bool.html&r=14&f=G&l=50&co1=AND&d=PTXT&s1=Apple.ASNM.&OS=AN/Apple&RS=AN/Apple

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lemming
The title of this link is a little misleading. If I read it correctly, the
patent is actually about ad-hoc pairing of roaming devices that previously
couldn't accept certain types of operations because of security regulations
(i.e. PIN transactions) with terminals that can accept them. So, sales droid
is on the shop floor with an iPhone, customer needs to enter a PIN to pay,
sales droid can pair their iPhone with an available terminal somewhere in the
store and use their iPhone essentially as a proxy to the authorised device. I
don't think this would affect Square, for example.

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pitdesi
It would, however affect most payment systems in Canada. When you eat out at a
restaurant, the server comes around with a payment device that takes PINs.

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lemming
They do here in Europe, too. But I still don't think this applies unless
they're using a generic device (iPhone et al) to create an ad-hoc connection
to an authorised device in order to act as a proxy to it.

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gtani
_fullon snark_

Does anybody remember: Up to a couple years ago, the Apple stores used to use
Windows CE devices to process card sales.

edit: not sure they were CE, but definitely MS Windows based, and if you asked
to look at it closer, the associate would generally say they were really busy
and walk away.

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masnick
Windows Mobile, apparently:
[http://rwolpert.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/apple-
stores-r...](http://rwolpert.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/08/apple-stores-
ru.html)

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winsbe01
the number of patents that apple has on things that, to me, seem generic
enough to generate good competition and innovation is astounding. and
depressing.

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isleyaardvark
Serious question: how many times has Apple used a generic patent against their
competition? It doesn't seem to happen often, which gives me the impression
they're mainly defensive patents.

~~~
winsbe01
that is a good question. I'm sure a lot of them are defensive patents, but
then you have the whole "App Store" name debacle between Amazon and Apple, and
then I start to wonder...

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sjs
Start to wonder about what? Please finish that thought.

Unlike with patents if you don't defend a trademark you will lose it.
Trademarks and patents are different and I'm curious as to why you're relating
them here.

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winsbe01
you're right, I'm sorry, I'm confusing the two. I'm just not too fond of the
whole owning-something-intangible concept, i.e. patents on processes or
trademarks on words. in my distaste for them, I guess I mixed them up.

but yes, a trademark is representative of a brand, and it's important for
companies to control their brand image, especially companies who are
constantly under surveillance by the media like Apple.

~~~
sjs
Understandable. I don't have anything nice to say about software patents
either.

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gharbad
.. Why wouldn't square count as prior art??

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cdcarter
Well, for one, Apple has been doing mobile device sales in their stores for
longer than Square has even been a company.

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pitdesi
In laymans terms... [http://www.quora.com/Apple-Inc-company/Does-Apple-have-a-
Pat...](http://www.quora.com/Apple-Inc-company/Does-Apple-have-a-Patent-
covering-retail-Payment-Card-transactions-on-mobile-devices)

~~~
scooby2
That's not in layman's terms - it simply repeats the patent claims verbatim
with a couple of paragraphs of commentary on how significant this is.

