Apple wins patent for iPhone touch-screen controls

Jan 27, 2009
An inflatable iPhone in Hong Kong
An inflatable iPhone in Hong Kong. Apple has won a US patent for touch-screen controls and gained a potential legal weapon against iPhone competitors

Apple has won a US patent for touch-screen controls and gained a potential legal weapon against iPhone competitors.


Content from AFP expires 1 month after original publication date. For more information about AFP, please visit www.afp.com .

Explore further: Sprint to listen to Dish offer

add to favorites email to friend print save as pdf

Related Stories

Recommended for you

Best Buy reports 1Q loss on restructuring costs

1 hour ago

(AP)—Best Buy Co. on Tuesday reported a loss for its fiscal first quarter as it sold its stake in Best Buy Europe and works on a turnaround plan that includes cutting costs and closing some stores.

Yahoo-Tumblr is among top 10 tech deals in 2013

4 hours ago

Yahoo has agreed to pay $1.1 billion to buy blogging forum Tumblr, ranking it in among the top 10 tech deals announced this year, according to research firm Dealogic. Here's a list of the top 10 tech mergers and acquisitions ...

User comments : 8

Adjust slider to filter visible comments by rank

Display comments: newest first

ryuuguu
3 / 5 (2) Jan 27, 2009
you gotta love the US patent office. Apple will stop palm from producing touch screen PDA with it's new patent half of witch pal invented first. Well it is only a US patnet so far, luckily occasionally Europe does stand by these patent trolls.
CreepyD
3.7 / 5 (3) Jan 27, 2009
Things like this surely stifle technological progress as competitors are unable to progress in a similar way. Good for profits, bad for technology, also bad for consumers.
delusioned
5 / 5 (2) Jan 27, 2009
Ironically patents are meant to promote technological advancement by providing incentive.
paulthebassguy
4 / 5 (2) Jan 27, 2009
After reading this I think that a vast amendment of patent law is needed with respect to technology.

Most current patent laws were drafted in the 1800s, and now need to be changed so they encourage R&D in the technology industry.
Arikin
3.3 / 5 (3) Jan 28, 2009
Oh get a life! Patents are suppose to help protect hard work. Stop copying and start creating!

This is to push other companies and individuals to find a better way. There are better ways to do almost anything. It just requires people to get off their lazy butts and start being pro-active and creative.
deatopmg
3.7 / 5 (3) Feb 02, 2009
http://www.physor...207.html
may be the problem w/ most of the posters above.

Patents protect those who advance technology for a period of time (20 yrs from disclosure), granting them exclusive of use their invention while teaching the rest of us how to practice that technology. With the knowledge of how that technology works, it spurs others to figure out better ways to do the same thing so those inventors can leapfrog the existing technology and so on and so on. The patent system simply gives the biggest return to the maximum number of people. (Open source, driven by a tiny, idealistic, percentage of the population who have found other ways to feed themselves, also works, but not as well as the patent system.)
Roach
not rated yet Mar 17, 2009
The good news is if Palm can show their development tree and establish the technology was in the pipes prior to Apples patent application was finalized, then Palm can bypass all of Apples crap.

Arikin, you're a moron, If logic like yours was allowed to persist, then everyone would be drive Benz brand cars. If this really made sence then someone should have patented click and drag, besides I'm pretty sure that my old laptop had a multi touch touchpad, circa 1999/2000 the only thing apple is trying to claim is that they were th first to put in on a touchscreen, only they aren't even patenting that since that's not their tech either, they are trying to patent a movement. but if you really believe what you say, next time you pinch to make a zit on your face small maybe you should go service Mr. jobs in the mens room to pay liquidated damages to cupertino.

Once and for all, Apple didn't invent anything, it's like saying ford invented the wheel, no they buy wheels from other manufactures. only in Ford's case they spec design and components, in this case it was an off the shelf item.
Arikin
not rated yet Mar 18, 2009
Yes. I did over react a bit :-)

I was more angry at people saying its not fair that company A improves older technology by company B. Complaining doesn't move technology forward, curiosity and motivation does. People seem to be content to copy and paste an exact copy instead of improving (please note that most inventions are an improvement of previous technology).

I do agree with what deatopmg said.

More news stories

Best Buy reports 1Q loss on restructuring costs

(AP)—Best Buy Co. on Tuesday reported a loss for its fiscal first quarter as it sold its stake in Best Buy Europe and works on a turnaround plan that includes cutting costs and closing some stores.

Green conversion of heat to electricity

Soon, it will be possible to produce electricity from heat over 30 degrees emitted from a waste incinerator, refinery, or data processor. The start-up Osmoblue has just confirmed the feasibility of this new ...

New method for producing clean hydrogen

Duke University engineers have developed a novel method for producing clean hydrogen, which could prove essential to weaning society off of fossil fuels and their environmental implications.