The latest patent to surface from the Cupertino camp shows Apple has been working on a physical keyboard that does away with physical keys. That’s right — a keyboard, much like the one you might have in front of you now, but without keys. Instead, you’ll use piezoelectrics, haptic feedback and acoustic pulse recognition to type.
In a bit of pre-emptive posturing, PC maker Acer charges Apple “started the patent war,” warning any losses should be seen as the cost of doing business. What patent war? Acer is among a number of Android-backers worried a recent Apple patent court win could result in more lawsuits.
A consortium that included Apple won an auction for a collection of Nortel patents earlier this month with a bid of $4.5 billion. According to the company’s 10-Q quarterly report filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, Apple’s contribution was a hefty $2.6 billion.
The state of software patents in the US is very reminiscent of the feudal system during the medieval ages. In terms of the US app development scene, you have large companies, like Apple and Google, that provide the platforms for developers to create and innovate on.
Innovation on these platforms (platforms like iOS and Android) is regulated by communication and frequent lawsuits between patent holders. As of late, attacks by large patent companies on mobile indie developers have caused devs to flee the US to escape otherwise-unnecessary legal fees and infringement ramifications.
On Friday, the U.S. International Trade Commission agreed with Apple and found that HTC’s smartphones infringed upon at least two patents.
The wound Apple has dealt HTC is not just a minor scratch, though. It’s a big victory, and it goes beyond just HTC. Apple may have just plunged its patent dagger right into Android’s achilles heel.
It seems that you can’t call yourself a major tech company these days unless you’re involved in a patent dispute with Apple. Its ongoing spat with Samsung continues to hit the headlines, and the company has just made HTC its next victim of a patent infringement lawsuit… so why is Apple’s chief counsel on patent issues leaving the company with still so much left to do?
A new Apple patent reveals an interesting new method of exchanging information between your devices through “metaphorical gestures” that would, for example, allow you to “pour” your files into your iPad by tipping your iPhone over it.
In a sign patents are playing an increasing role in protecting marketshare, Apple and a group of other companies paid an ‘unprecedented’ $4.5 billion to keep Nortel patents away from Google. How will the 6,000 patents be used? First stop, sue the pants of Android, experts predict.
An Apple patented granted yesterday for the company’s original iPhone contains within one of its illustrations a small piece of information that could confirm the company is willing to open up Notification Center widgets in iOS 5 to third-party developers.
Four years after it set the smartphone world on fire, Apple has won a patent for the original iPhone.
This isn’t just old news: it’s a huge win for Apple that will not only help Cupertino out in their case against Samsung, but according to some patent specialists could even allow Apple to go to war against other smartphone makers.