In a major IP victory, Apple has been awarded an astonishingly broad reaching patent which could score it a cut of every smartphone on the market. As PCMag explains, Apple filed patent number 7,966,578 three and a half years ago, and yesterday it was awarded — and the patent is broad enough that it covers all touch smartphones. The patent covers any touchscreen device that displays content and interacts with finger gestures. That’s it. In other words every smartphone with a touchscreen, every tablet, every iPod Touch ripoff. They’re all covered under this patent.
Theoretically, this means that Apple can demand licensing rights from every smartphone manufacturer on the planet, and could get a cut of every phone sold. It also could mean the beginning of a new round of massive inter-company legal battles.
As much as I’m a screaming Apple fanboy, I find this patent extremely worrying. Awarding Apple a patent on something this broad does nothing to foster innovation, nor does it protect creators. It’s just patent trolling. And it could have dire effects on the industry.
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