This is good news for consumers I believe. Hopefully these idiot companies will start acting like adults some time in the next 10 years so they can all get back to product development instead of being full-time law firms with a hardware-manufacturing adjunct.
Read it on Hexus:
http://hexus.net/tech/news/software/49581-apples-pinch-to-zoom-patent-invalidated-initial-ruling/
Anything that has been shown in a film, or used in other devices or concept videos years before being developed should not be patentable. I'm glad this decision came about because it's heading back towards the concept that ideas are not patentable, inventions are. It's good news to the consumer and bad news to patent trolls and pushy companies.
The pinch to zoom was a classic fubar from the US patent office. Apple should have been able to patent the method for making pinch to zoom work on their devices but not the actual action. Otherwise I could patent the system for activating an electrical device by means of pressing a button on the surface of said device ro something equally as stupid. Hopefully the patent nonsense will be a short lived aberration and we can get back to enjoying tech created by companies that compete aggressively with each other through innovation rather than litigation.
Quote from: smilodon;363646Hopefully the patent nonsense will be a short lived aberration
Unfortunately, whilst the U.S. Patent Office continues to default to an "accept any patent application, then let the courts decide whether or not it is valid" approach, we have little hope of their help in ending this litigation-fest. That's why most of these ridiculous lawsuits are in the U.S., because they have such a retarded approach to patent filing.
Very true but I believe several big hitters in the US (senators, committees etc) have ripped into the US Patent office and declared it 'not fit for purpose'. So while it's no solution at least some of the US government recognise that they have a problem. A start at least