Can Apple Patent the Pinch? Experts Say It's Possible | Hacker News Reader

Can Apple Patent the Pinch? Experts Say It's Possible

wired.com

8 pointsnreece13 comments

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Nice.

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

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.

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.

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...

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.

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.

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

... make way for return of The Look And Feel Lawsuits ...

Remember when the GUI was copyrighted?

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

The exact anti-definition of 'pinch'

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.

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

No, no, no. That's distinctly different. You use both hands :)

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.

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