Hasta La Gadget!

Never say the USPTO doesn’t have impeccable timing: on the eve of Apple’s tablet launch (and on the very day we finally realized that we’ve been looking at the same set of Apple patent images in loosely-related filings since 2004), the Patent Office has granted Apple some 13 patents, including #7,653,883 for a proximity-sensing multitouch screen. That’s right, granted — as in, Apple can file a lawsuit if others infringe these ideas now. (Usually we just look at patent applications, which have no legal weight.) The proximity-sensing screen is obviously the most interesting of the bunch, since it’s actually related to those same Apple multitouch patents we’ve been seeing forever — it describes a touchscreen that can detect when an object (like a finger or a stylus) is close to the screen but not touching it, and then offer up context-dependent controls based on what it detects. Imagine seeing window controls when your hand gets close to the top of the window — it solves the problem of your finger covering the display. Of course, we have no way of knowing whether it’ll be in whatever device is announced tomorrow — but it’s certainly interesting. There’s also a fun little design patent granted on the external design of the third-gen iPod nano, and then 11 other patents covering things like color management, bandwidth detection, and, uh, “Method and Apparatus for Selectively Switching IC Ports to Card Slots Through the use of Three Switches per Switch Group.” Riveting, we know. Check the full breakdown at the read link.

Apple granted patent for a proximity-sensing touchscreen originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 27 Jan 2010 07:37:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Don’t you sometimes wish legal squabbles like this actually delivered on their promises? There’s pretty much no way that Toshiba’s patent claim with the US International Trade Commission will lead to a ban on Wistron imports — the company builds laptops for Acer, Dell, HP, Lenovo and others, and will likely settle in cash long before any rulings against it — but it’s fun to imagine the mayhem that would result if such an eventuality were to materialize. A quick look at the rankings of global computer vendors shows that Toshiba is mostly trying to throw a banana skin in front of its direct competitors, claiming as it does that Wistron products infringe on its methodologies for touchpad production and file saving when the laptop loses power. The ITC, should it decide to investigate, will take up to 15 months on this matter, so no breath-holding is advised just yet, though if that settlement does eventuate it should be a pretty breathtaking number.

Toshiba seeks to prevent Wistron laptop imports to the US originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 25 Jan 2010 02:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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We’re still not clear on whether Psystar is still in business, or if it’s selling anything other than T-shirts, but the would-be Mac cloner isn’t totally out of the game yet: it’s filed an official notice of appeal in the California court, which means it’s going to try and fight that decisive victory and injunction won by Apple a month ago. Just based on the simple open-and-shut legal reasoning involved in the decision — surprise, you can’t copy, modify, and resell a copyrighted work without permission — we’d say this appeal is a long shot, but we didn’t go to Harvard Law School like Psystar attorney Eugene Action. Man, we missed that guy. Let’s quote from his website again, shall we?

The matrix is born and the energy sucking machine herds Americans into pods of predetermined limitations. Forced programming on your computer is just one of the provisional patents looming against freedom and democracy. Capitalism spurring innovation and creativity through open and competitive markets is at risk on this new frontier. This new battle is being fought on the abstract electronic plains of America while most of us cannot even open our email. The beachheads are red with the blood of ambitious Americans gunned down for their initiative.

Let’s be honest: we never, ever, want this story to end.

P.S. — Wondering why Rebel EFI is listed as “out of stock” on the Psystar website? It’s because there isn’t any stock, shockingly enough — in a statement filed with the court on December 31, Rudy Pedraza says all copies of the bootloader have been destroyed except for one that’s in the possession of his attorneys. Between this appeal and the pending case in Florida over Snow Leopard, we’d say that means it’ll be a long time before the software is back on the scene — enough time for the legit OSx86 scene to leapfrog it entirely.

Psystar files official notice of appeal, ruthlessly attacks windmill originally appeared on Engadget on Sat, 16 Jan 2010 12:32:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Apparently Kodak’s attorneys were having a little courtroom separation anxiety — just a week after settling that long-running patent case with Samsung, they’ve filed three separate actions against Apple and RIM based. Two of the cases are based on the same patent at issue in the Samsung litigation: the first is an International Trade Commission complaint alleging that iPhones and BlackBerrys infringe the Kodak patent on previewing images, while the other is filed solely against Apple in the Western District of New York and also includes a patent on processing images at different resolutions. Apple’s also the sole focus of the third case, which alleges infringement of several patents on computer programs calling to other programs — sounds obvious, but Kodak’s already enforced them against Sun in a 2004 case. Kodak says all it’s after is fair license terms, and that it’s not trying to push anything off the market — the man with the gun always sounds so reasonable, doesn’t he?

Kodak files patent lawsuits against Apple and RIM originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 14 Jan 2010 10:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Continue reading Samsung and Kodak put an end to patent squabbles

Samsung and Kodak put an end to patent squabbles originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 11 Jan 2010 12:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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