And With Those 200 iPhone Patents Come The Inevitable Patent Disputes

from the nuclear-standoff dept

Wed, Feb 21st 2007 11:12am — Mike Masnick

We've spent a fair amount of time discussing Apple's decision to hype up the 200 patents it supposedly holds on technologies included in the upcoming iPhone. Initially, we wondered why they actually needed such patents -- as it was hardly a protective measure. Try as they might, no other company is going to easily come up with a phone that has nearly the same brand factor that Apple can muster up from its fans. Furthermore, it's been pretty clear that most of the "new" features seen the iPhone aren't really that new. About the only explanation we heard that made sense for hyping the patents was to make up for the bad deal the company signed with Cingular, which will limit the distribution of the iPhone initially.

However, a second reason is becoming clear -- and it's (unfortunately) one of the most popular reasons for getting (and hyping) patents these days: nuclear stockpiling. That is, you want to have all these patents to hopefully ward off others with patents who will want to take a bite out of your success should your technology go anywhere. Already, we've seen claims from LG that Apple was copying an LG phone with its iPhone design. The latest, pointed out by Engadget is that Quantum Research, who has already sued Apple over the click wheel on the iPod is gearing up to sue over the touch screen interface, which it claims to hold patents on. "The description of the iPhone suggests it uses a rear-surface touch screen, and has proximity sensing which can tell if it is held to the ear. That's a QR capability." So now Apple can saber rattle back with its collection of 200 patents against anyone who claims infringement on it -- and then hope that the threat of all out nuclear patent war leads the two sides to come to an "agreement." It's not efficient. It's not good for innovation or progress... but it's how the system works, and it's why so many patent attorneys don't want it to change.

Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.

Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.

While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.

–The Techdirt Team

14 Comments

If you liked this post, you may also be interested in...

Reader Comments

Subscribe: RSS

View by: Time | Thread

Andrew, 21 Feb 2007 @ 11:08am

The system works for two groups
The patent system works for two groups. The first group is "the establishment" of players who each hold several key patents that are required to be part of the game. Only someone with key patents is able to be part of the club, because they can use them to halt the business of any of the others. Everyone else is kept out. The second group are "IP trolls" who play a different game - halting businesses who play the game above. Since they don't need the key patents to play their game, the establishment can't block them. Neither of these groups are interested in progress.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Sea Man, 21 Feb 2007 @ 12:34pm

correction
"to hopefully ward off..."

FIRST!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Karl, 21 Feb 2007 @ 12:40pm
  
  Re: correction
  nice contribution to any conversation about this article.
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
  - Bill, 21 Feb 2007 @ 12:55pm
    
    Re: Re: correction
    A really good contribution to the discussion of this article! Thanks Karl!
    [ link to this | view in chronology ]
    - Ty, 21 Feb 2007 @ 12:56pm
      
      Re: Re: Re: correction
      Hey, You too Bill! Keep it up!
      [ link to this | view in chronology ]
      - cawwot, 21 Feb 2007 @ 1:05pm
        
        Re: Re: Re: Re: correction
        Wow, these are meaningful posts.
        [ link to this | view in chronology ]
ScaredOfTheMan, 21 Feb 2007 @ 12:44pm

Imagine a world without patents?

would we really stop innovating?

Why does humans invent, for money or because we have a curious and progressive nature.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
- Anonymous Coward, 9 Apr 2009 @ 5:32am
  
  Re:
  ur grammar sucks
  [ link to this | view in chronology ]
Luke, 21 Feb 2007 @ 1:08pm

Penguins
I know that I innovate/change anything that I'm doing when I perceive that I'll have to do less work after I've made the change. Or at least apply the same amount of work but seem to have to apply less effort.

Basically the lazy factor is the only reason I can see good inovation (the TV remote, the internet [porn comes straight to me now], microwave oven [yummy quick heated food], cars, searching for inane patents [Yay! Google!].)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Russ, 21 Feb 2007 @ 2:18pm

False Logic
MAD only works where the other side has something to lose. It works for Sony, MS, HP and IBM.

For patent trolls, they have no products, therefore can't get counter sued.

Sooner or later big business will realize this and change their approach. a few more NTP settlements and the true cost of the patent system will become evident. Now it is buried in overhead.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Search Engines Web, 21 Feb 2007 @ 8:47pm

BREAKING: Cisco & Apple Settle iPhone Lawsuit
hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CISCO_APPLE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

The companies said Apple will be allowed to use the name for its sleek new multimedia device in exchange for exploring wide-ranging "interoperability" between the companies' products in the areas of security, consumer and business communications

[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Search Engines Web, 21 Feb 2007 @ 8:49pm

BREAKING: Cisco & Apple Settle iPhone Lawsuit
The companies said Apple will be allowed to use the name for its sleek new multimedia device in exchange for exploring wide-ranging "interoperability" between the companies' products in the areas of security, consumer and business communications

hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/C/CISCO_APPLE?SITE=AP&SECTION=HOME&TEMPLATE=DE FAULT

[ link to this | view in chronology ]
michael, 11 Mar 2007 @ 11:05pm

The iPhone is an Entirely Different Revolution
I like the iPhone multi-touch technology for easy navigation. This will be the next PDA generation.

I will buy the iPhone.

Get iPhone Converter

http://www.iphoneconverter.com/
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
renwen.yan, 28 Apr 2009 @ 2:49am

3GP Converter, 3GP Movie Converter, FLV to 3GP Converter, AVI to 3GP Converter
[ link to this | view in chronology ]