Quote:
Originally Posted by Hack&Lube
Apple has attacked every other touchscreen tablet platform that has similar features like icons, multitouch, gestures, swiping, etc. with litigation. Many other tablets and phones are already subject to a $20-$40 increase in costs in terms of royalties other companies have paid to Apple to avoid situations like what is happening to Samsung right now. That cost is passed onto consumers. I'm not saying that Apple is wrong for doing what is obviously in their own best interests, but I don't like how the system works either.
His analogy was overly simplified but at the core, I don't see why it isn't applicable to compare Apple patenting the core operations that have emerged as the basic general commonalities and methods to use tablets and smartones (like auto rotate when you rotate the device) with a hypothetical situation where a car company patents the idea of having the steering wheel being round.
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You make my point right there, it's an issue with the way the patent system operates, not the manner in which Apple is using it. If Google felt they had an ability to win that case they wouldn't be paying that fee, they are not litigation averse, but they obviously feel that their chances are sufficiently low that paying a fee is preferable to a legal battle.
As to your second paragraph, my point is that simplification simply misses the point in this area. The ability to obtain a patent comes from the lack of simplification, from the nuances and small details that exist in a product. You aren't going to get patent protection for something that lacks a sufficient level of unique characteristics. Now whether that threshold level is set properly is a different question.
Btw, I use both apple and samsung/htc products, so this isn't a matter of me defending one particular side.