USPTO Rejects Apple's Pinch to Zoom Patent

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I got $5 that says Apple appeals this ruling by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. Thanks to Ironwolf for the heads up.

The 21 claims of the patent were rejected by the USPTO in a "final office action," as they were anticipated by previous patents or unpatentable. Known as the "pinch-to-zoom" patent, it covers the ability to distinguish between the scrolling movement of one finger and two-fingers gestures like pinch-to-zoom on a touch-screen to activate certain functions.
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That's SO dumb of them to even think about making a patent like this. So what are all the other phone companies suppose to do to zoom? Click menu>zoom or a special side button to zoom in and out?

Apple gets stupider and stupider by the second -____-
 
Up next for review, another couple thousand of Apple patents on equally retarded things they have no business patenting.
 
Considering Apple stole the idea from Mitsubishi (look up Diamond Touch), I am satisfied with the USPTO's decision.
 
It was definitely not dumb of them to try an patent this, if you look up the file date it was back in Jan of 2007, when they launched the 1st iPhone. Back then no one was moving toward touch screens for phones, it was all stylus, keyboards, and trackballs.

Watching the Diamond Touch video, I can see the similarities, but they were aiming toward a table surface usable by several people simultaneously, and aimed at a niche business market.

In either case all the patent filing did was hinder competition from instantly copying their very marketable implementation by a few years, enough time for them to rake in the cash and create a market demand.
 
Tweak42 said:
It was definitely not dumb of them to try an patent this, if you look up the file date it was back in Jan of 2007, when they launched the 1st iPhone. Back then no one was moving toward touch screens for phones, it was all stylus, keyboards, and trackballs.

Watching the Diamond Touch video, I can see the similarities, but they were aiming toward a table surface usable by several people simultaneously, and aimed at a niche business market.

In either case all the patent filing did was hinder competition from instantly copying their very marketable implementation by a few years, enough time for them to rake in the cash and create a market demand.
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All smart phones were moving toward touch screens, or wait maybe you don't think its a touch screen unless its capacitive, in which case you would still be wrong because LG released a phone before the iPhone with a capacitive screen.

Also lets get real pinch to zoom didn't make the iPhone it sold like crazy before anyone had any idea what it was, it was simple inertia from the iPod. The LG prada was pretty much a very similar phone and got no such hype.
 
rudy said:
All smart phones were moving toward touch screens, or wait maybe you don't think its a touch screen unless its capacitive, in which case you would still be wrong because LG released a phone before the iPhone with a capacitive screen.

Also lets get real pinch to zoom didn't make the iPhone it sold like crazy before anyone had any idea what it was, it was simple inertia from the iPod. The LG prada was pretty much a very similar phone and got no such hype.
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I thought the original iphone didn't sell that well overall because it wasn't subsidized?
 
People might look back and claim that but the original iphone debuted in a time when most people did not have data connections and smart phones. For the time sales were killer, I think the prada only sold 1 million world wide, the iPhone did like 1.5 million in 2 quarters on a single carrier, and at least 5 million total.

I do not remember if it was or was not subsidizes but if it wasn't that would be even more compelling. 1.5 million in 2 quarters with no subsidy from a company without a track record in the industry?

Point is there is shit loads of utter bullshit floating around out there about the iPhone, the only innovation in the iPhone was the removal of all the good hardware and selling it for the same price as phones with more expensive hardware. Go read the Wikipedia page its laughable how some people describe the phone. Many things that were forced on other companies by carriers were not forced on the iPhone and they attribute this to innovation, that's not innovation its just bargaining power. If apple had innovated and built from the ground up then they wouldn't even have an app store. Rather what really happened is people knew the thing was going to ship millions of units before anyone even knew what it looked like so they had a bargaining chip that had not been seen since the Motorola razr.
 
zuppy said:
That's SO dumb of them to even think about making a patent like this. So what are all the other phone companies suppose to do to zoom? Click menu>zoom or a special side button to zoom in and out?

Apple gets stupider and stupider by the second -____-
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The upside is that it would be cheaper in the long run to pay for patent filings and having on record that this is not something that is patentable than to have someone a few years down the road actually sneak a patent through and then sue the bageezus out of Apple.
 
Karma has pimp-slapped Apple this week something fierce. This, the US import ban on the 3/3S/4 starting Monday, the ex-employees who filed suit over bag checking. A week I am sure Apple wished ended sooner rather than later.
 
Now apple will get to sell everyone iPhone 5s instead, they probably don't even see it as a problem lol. Does anyone even sell a 3 or 3g anymore?
 
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