Samsung may have convinced Judge Koh to toss a few international handsets out of Apple’s lawsuit, but the Korean firm still has Cupertino’s patent licensing accusations to contend with. Their tactic? Convince the court that Apple’s claim to the inventions are invalid, and that the technology was developed prior to the disputed patent’s filing. It’s called showing “prior art,” and Sammy’s done it before — famously showing a scene from 2001: A Space Odyssey in an attempt to put Apple’s iPad design claims to rest. Today’s examples were more grounded in reality, focusing on debunking Cupertino’s claim to the “bounce back” effect that happens when a user reaches the end of a page and common multitouch zoom / navigation gestures.
Samsung pitted the famous “bounce back” feature against an old PocketPC interface called LaunchTile, which allowed users to navigate through 36 applications by zooming in and out and a panning across a grid-like “world view” of said apps. Movement between grids snap to each zone, marking the end of a page. Apple shot back, noting that LiveTile’s snapping navigation didn’t work on diagonals, and cited other differences as well. Samsung wasn’t deterred, however, and brought out DiamondTouch, a projector based multitouch table that utilized both one touch scrolling and pinch-based zoom gestures. The table even takes aim at the aforementioned bounce-back patent with a technology called TableCloth, which bounces back images that are pulled off screen. DiamondTouch’s creator, Adam Bogue, told the court that he had demoed the technology to Apple privately back in 2003, noting that it was also available to anyone who visited the Mitsubishi Electronic Research Laboratories’ lobby.
If the jury takes to Samsung’s claims of prior art, it could severely cut Apple’s claims against it. Even so, Cupertino’s lawyers aren’t going down without a fight, and still have a number of navigation and design claims that Samsung hasn’t addressed. The two parties are expected to keep up the fight for about a week, we’ll keep you posted on the inevitable revelations as they come.
Filed under: Cellphones, Tablet PCs
Samsung’s defense against Apple patents begins with DiamondTouch table, LiveTile UI prior art originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Aug 2012 23:11:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.
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It’s just one among many, but the headlining case in the Apple v. Samsung global war is finally drawing to a close. Today, each party attempted to persuade the jury of nine one last time with their closing arguments, and with the rebuttals complete, it is time for deliberation. Starting at 9AM tomorrow morning, the jury’s job is to sift through the mountains of evidence proffered by each side, decipher the verdict form provided and reach a unanimous decision on the patent and trade dress claims at issue. Will Apple emerge victorious or will Samsung’s arguments carry the day? Could a hung jury and a mistrial be the result? Tune in tomorrow (and maybe the next day, and the next…) to find out.
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