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Comment by ChuckMcM | Hacker News Reader

So presumably he's filed for a patent on this technique? (Yes I'm being serious)

This is obviously a HUGE win. I agree that cursor motion really really sucks. And if there was an App that added this feature to the keyboard (is there?) then I'd certainly pay 0.99 for it. So that leaves me wondering about the whole viral bug report thing.

If I was being cynical I'd suggest that a there is probably a pending patent on it, and as soon as it is implemented blam! out comes the troll looking for his payout. While this seems crass and cynical in the tech world in the world of scripts and movies it is apparently a known, and defended against, tactic. Production companies being explicit to never suggest any ideas because doing so with out them asking (and pre-establishing the rights ownership thing) might leave them open to a 'stolen idea' lawsuit).

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> an App that added this feature to the keyboard (is there?)

This seems... not possible to do via an app.

Um, why not? Before copy/paste was introduced, text editing apps introduced features to provide that functionality. And the video shows it is clearly possible.

I may be mistaken, but I don't think it's possible for an iOS app's keyboard to become the "system" keyboard. In other words, you could make a text-editing app with a keyboard using this feature, but it would only be usable within that text-editing app.

That's right.

You are totally correct. On android, however, its another story and something like this could be implemented and used on a "system" keyboard.

I don't think he meant as a global replacement. just a custom keyboard for within the app as a demo

About a year ago, I actually had a very similar idea to the one shown in the demo. I like this one better – mine used individual swipes to move letter by letter, two-fingered swipes to move one word at a time. The "analog" motion in the demo feels more natural and allows for much faster navigation.

I took another look at the US patent process (having never patented any inventions in my 2009 desktop interaction concept), with a vague plan of "shopping" it around were it to be granted, but the cost versus the timeframe, combined with the slightly scummy feeling of trying to monetize a patent without actually building anything, ultimately stopped me.

If the latter of those reasons doesn't stop the author of this demo from springing some kind of patent trap, the former probably will.

Ok, check this : http://appft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sec...

Since soft keyboards have a ZILLION patents on them there is very little 'innovation' room. I'd wager these guys in Singapore would claim ownership of this 'feature' if their patent issues.

FastEver does something similar, you swipe the screen and the cursor moves on spot in the directions you swipe.

Look under features: "Swipe to move cursor (iOS4 or later)" http://rakkoentertainment.com/fastever/

Well, its in the public domain now. So if it isn't patent pending, its not patentable.

  So presumably he's filed for a patent on this technique?

Selecting text on a computer should not be patentable. But I bet it probably is because of how stupid the patent system is.

It's a shame there are so many legal costs and constraints to applying for patents; we badly need a patent equivalent to copyleft.

We do. It's called the GPLv3.

Have there ever been any court cases where patents have been invalidated or upheld based on any flavor of existing copyleft licenses? And is there any way to apply GPL to the kind of broad concepts which are successfully patented ("One Click Purchase", as opposed to "OnceClickFramework::BuyNowFunction")?

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