Apple's Beats brand in April unveiled the Powerbeats Pro, a redesigned wire-free version of its popular fitness-oriented Powerbeats earbuds.
Apple's 'Rubber Banding' Patent Key to Samsung Lawsuit Preliminarily Invalidated
FOSS Patents reports on a new court filing from Samsung revealing that the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has issued a preliminary decision ruling that Apple's "rubber banding" patent that was a key part of the $1 billion lawsuit against Samsung has been invalidated. While numerous other reviews and appeals will undoubtedly take place in the coming months, the preliminary ruling is certainly a blow to Apple's cases against Samsung and others.
The report notes that the rejection could influence Judge Lucy Koh to at least partially rule in favor of Samsung's requests that the jury's verdict be overturned by the court as having been improperly issued.
The patent rejection comes after an anonymous third party challenged the validity of the patent earlier this year, requesting a reexamination by the patent office. The rubber banding patent covers the ability for iOS content to "bounce back" when a user has scrolled to the top or bottom of a given page. The feature provides an aesthetically pleasing means of alerting the user that they have reached the end of the content rather than simply stopping abruptly, but the USPTO has now ruled that the feature does not qualify as novel in light of prior art on the matter. That prior art includes not only a European patent from AOL but also a previous Apple patent.
In a non-final Office action the USPTO has declared all 20 claims of Apple's rubber-banding patent (U.S. Patent No, 7,469,381 invalid, including claim 19, which Apple successfully asserted against Samsung in the summer trial in California. In fact, claim 19 is one of several claims to be deemed invalid for two reasons, either one of which would be sufficient on its own.
The report notes that the rejection could influence Judge Lucy Koh to at least partially rule in favor of Samsung's requests that the jury's verdict be overturned by the court as having been improperly issued.
The patent rejection comes after an anonymous third party challenged the validity of the patent earlier this year, requesting a reexamination by the patent office. The rubber banding patent covers the ability for iOS content to "bounce back" when a user has scrolled to the top or bottom of a given page. The feature provides an aesthetically pleasing means of alerting the user that they have reached the end of the content rather than simply stopping abruptly, but the USPTO has now ruled that the feature does not qualify as novel in light of prior art on the matter. That prior art includes not only a European patent from AOL but also a previous Apple patent.
[ 124 comments ]
Top Rated Comments
(View all)
87 months ago
Well, you can't infringe on an invalid patent. And now Apple seems to have burned it's bridges with one of its biggest suppliers. The arrogance of the big Apple is incredible.
87 months ago
The big question is why were they able to get a patent on it to begin with?
Just goes to show how screwed up the US Patent system actually is.
While I'm at it, I want to get a patent for a patent. That way when ever someone tried to patent something, I can sue them for infringing on the patent that covers applying and getting a patent.
I'll be rich.
Or I would use it to stop stupid people/companies from patenting stupid things.
Just goes to show how screwed up the US Patent system actually is.
While I'm at it, I want to get a patent for a patent. That way when ever someone tried to patent something, I can sue them for infringing on the patent that covers applying and getting a patent.
I'll be rich.
Or I would use it to stop stupid people/companies from patenting stupid things.
87 months ago
Obvious? If it's so obvious, why no one made it before?
Pretty sure "Prior art" means someone made it before... :rolleyes:
----------
Only obvious in hindsight.
Pretty sure, again, Hindsight doesn't apply to "Prior".
87 months ago
For me this isn't about Apple or Samsung (this ruling) - this is validation that the patent system has problems. And that, given time, it IS possible for them to be corrected (albeit slowly).
This invalidation is actually a great win for the consumer in the long run. That's not an Anti-Apple sentiment. Like I said - this is about things that shouldn't have been patented in the first place being re-evaluated.
This invalidation is actually a great win for the consumer in the long run. That's not an Anti-Apple sentiment. Like I said - this is about things that shouldn't have been patented in the first place being re-evaluated.
87 months ago
The big question is why were they able to get a patent on it to begin with?
Just goes to show how screwed up the US Patent system actually is.
Spot on.
Seems patenting the **** of our everything is now part of the development process. No matter how insignificant it might seem. And being a bureaucratic system, requests will get approved to be later rejected cause they were never analysed in the first place.
110% in agreement on how screwed up the patent system is.
87 months ago
Obvious? If it's so obvious, why no one made it before?
To start with it is an effect that has been animated before - so even though it may or may not have been used in this particular context before, an adaptation of an existing feature is considered obvious.
Additionally, in terms of screen interfaces, there is almost no such thing as a novel interface. There isn't much that hasn't already been thought of in academic literature, tv/movie effects, and the OS industry. More than likely you've been exposed to the last two things I just mentioned but probably not the first. There is a dearth of academic literature covering this field.
87 months ago
Well, you can't infringe on an invalid patent. And now Apple seems to have burned it's bridges with one of its biggest suppliers. The arrogance of the big Apple is incredible.
Sad thing is, Samsung make some quality components, and as Apple customers we will suffer due to lower quality components in future apple products. Samsung screens are damn good, I would not take a current Retina MBP with a LG screen.
Launching Maps, cutting Samsung as a supplier..... agree, arrogant decisions.
87 months ago
...the notification centre slides down from the top with a swipe, ....
It just shows how damn lazy some companies are, that despite having tons of money (khm khm, Google), they don't even take the slightest effort to do something new, but rather copy and paste an interface exactly as it is on their competitor's system.
Apparently you didn't know Android had the swipe-down notification bar years before Apple. Apple isn't the only company in the world that "innovates".
[ Read All Comments ]
Apple today seeded the first beta of an upcoming tvOS 13 software update to its public beta testing group, giving non-developers a chance to try out the new software ahead of its fall public release....
Apple today seeded the fifth beta of an upcoming iOS 12.4 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the fourth iOS 12.4 beta, and over a month after releasing iOS 12.3, a major update that...
Apple today seeded the third beta of an upcoming macOS Mojave 10.14.6 update to developers, two weeks after seeding the second macOS Mojave 10.14.6 beta and more than a month after the release of...
Apple today seeded the fourth beta of an upcoming watchOS 5.3 update to developers, two weeks after releasing the third watchOS 5.3 beta and a month after the launch of watchOS 5.2.1, an update that...
B&H Photo is further discounting a set of previous generation iMacs, providing the lowest ever price for the 21.5-inch model with 8GB RAM and a 1TB Fusion Drive. You can get this model for...
Microsoft plans to launch a small foldable Surface tablet in the first half of 2020, according to Jeff Lin, an analyst at research firm IHS Markit.
Microsoft Surface Go
In an email shared...
Augmented reality game Harry Potter: Wizards Unite got a surprise early release last week in the U.S. and the U.K., and Niantic has now rolled the game out to a global audience.
Early Sunday...
For this week's giveaway, we've teamed up with Tap to give MacRumors readers a chance to win one of the company's wearable keyboards, which Tap believes is the keyboard of the future.
...
