In an exclusive today,PCMag that Apple has, (finally), been granted its patent for the iPhone, originally released in 2007. Here’s the really interesting part. Experts say the granted patent is so broad, it could actually allow Apple to put pressure on other smartphone manufacturers, if not push them out of the U.S market, entirely.
Filed all the way back in 2007, Apple has this week been awarded U.S. patent number 7,966,578, which covers, “[a] computer-implemented method, for use in conjunction with a portable multifunction device with a touch screen display, [that] comprises displaying a portion of page content, including a frame displaying a portion of frame content and also including other content of the page, on the touch screen display.”
But as PCMag notes, this is just the beginning of what is contained in the patent. Because, you see, by the USPTO granting Apple such a patent, it has, in effect, given Apple sole rights over the multitouch technology found in almost all smartphones and tablets currently available on the market.
Apple’s patent essentially gives it ownership of the capacitive multitouch interface the company pioneered with its iPhone, said one source who has been involved in intellectual property litigation on similar matters. That’s likely to produce a new round of lawsuits over the now-ubiquitous multitouch interfaces used in smartphones made by the likes of HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Research in Motion, Nokia, and others that run operating systems similar in nature to Apple’s iOS, like Google’s Android, said the source, who asked not to be named.
And it gets worse for the firm’s competitors, as with its iPhone patent now granted, Apple has essentially just patented the modern-day smartphone which uses multitouch and the finger for mobile navigation.
What’s more, the patent seems broad enough in scope to cover virtually any mobile device with an interface that incorporates the finger movements used to operate Apple’s touchscreen devices, the source said.
“This patent covers a kind of functionality without which it will be hard to build a competitive smartphone,” said Florian Mueller, an award-winning intellectual property activist with 25 years of software industry expertise who blogs at Foss Patents.
“Unless this patent becomes invalidated, it would allow Apple to stifle innovation and bully competitors.”
This is obviously great news for Apple, who will likely now go after said companies and request they purchase a license for “their” technology.
Apple could conceivably restrict makers of touchscreen smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices from selling their products in the U.S. More likely is that Apple would reach a settlement with such competitors and start licensing its patented technology for a tidy new income stream.
via XiPhone
