By : Ed Silverstein
Source : http://www.techzone360.com
Category : Patent News
There’s a great deal of celebration over at Apple about one of its new patents that just got approved by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Rivals are watching the events carefully. They may even be nervous.
The office approved 25 patents altogether but one of them “represents another major iPhone and iOS interface victory for Apple,” Patently Apple reported. “Apple reinvented the smartphone…and they get another patent victory to celebrate that fact.”
The promising patent relates to the iPhone's graphical user interface. It is connected to the display of electronic lists and documents, according to news reports.
Phandroid has actually called the patent the “mother of all smartphone software patents,” according to BGR News.
Investor Place added that for Apple’s rivals it could be “swift and lethal.”
In another statement, Cult of Mac proclaimed, “This patent could be Apple’s biggest weapon against the competition yet.”
The patent is No. 8,223,134. In its review, BGR News said the new patent could mean particular trouble for Google’s Android operating system.
Apple has been involved in many patent disputes over technology. In fact, one report claims that Apple is “at the center of 60 percent of all major patent suits,” according to Cult of Mac.
“The bad news for Android and its hardware partners is that this [new] patent will likely become a stable of future patent infringement claims coming from Apple’s court,” Phandroid speculated.
In a recent report, TechZone360’s Oliver VanDervoort added in a comment that “Apple rarely loses a patent court fight.”
In a rare twist of their luck, Apple however did lose out to Proview, which is based in China.
“The iPad maker was ordered to pay about $60 million to Proview and in what can only be described as an illustration of the massive amount of money Apple’s CEO is raking in, it seems that [CEO Tim] Cook basically paid this fee out of his own wallet,” VanDervoort said.
Source : http://www.techzone360.com/topics/techzone/articles/2012/07/20/299789-apple-gets-new-patent-approved-that-rivals-may.htm
