Apple awarded comprehensive iPhone multi-touch patent

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Apple awarded comprehensive iPhone multi-touch patent

Apple has been awarded a United States patent covering the iPhone and its multi-touch interface. Patent no. 7,479,949, titled “Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics,” details nearly every aspect of the iPhone’s graphical user interface across its 350+ pages. Apple CEO Steve Jobs is listed prominently among the patent’s inventors; the patent also gives Apple extra leverage in fighting off companies which copy iPhone features, as COO Tim Cook alluded to in last week’s Q1 2009 Conference Call. Given the breadth of the patent, however, it’s unclear how successful Apple will be in protecting specific aspects of the iPhone interface; the patent does not necessarily cover every single element disclosed therein.

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Comments

1

Good, because I’m tired of copy cats. all they do is copy a device and put it out, which most of the time breaks down after a time. whith this rulling the manufacturer has to THINK to get new inventions and ideas and not just go the cheap way for a few bucks.

Posted by dennis on January 29, 2009 at 6:01 AM (PDT)

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