Apple Now Owns The Page Turn

[jpeyton]

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2012/1...bits&seid=auto

If you want to know just how broken the patent system is, just look at patent D670,713, filed by Apple and approved this week by the United States Patent Office.

This design patent, titled, "Display screen or portion thereof with animated graphical user interface," gives Apple the exclusive rights to the page turn in an e-reader application.

Yes, that's right. Apple now owns the page turn. You know, as when you turn a page with your hand. An "interface" that has been around for hundreds of years in physical form. I swear I've seen similar animation in Disney or Warner Brothers cartoons.

(This is where readers are probably checking the URL of this article to make sure it's The New York Times and not The Onion.)

Apple argued that its patented page turn was unique in that it had a special type of animation other page-turn applications had been unable to create.

The patent comes with three illustrations to explain how the page-turn algorithm works. In Figure 1, the corner of a page can be seen folding over. In Figure 2, the page is turned a little more. I'll let you guess what Figure 3 shows.

Of course this isn't the most seemingly obvious patent Apple has been awarded in recent years. The company has also been granted patents for an icon for music (which is a just a musical note), the glass staircase used in the company's stores -- yes, stairs, that people walk up -- and for the packaging of its iPhone.

The patent to own the page turn was just one of 38 patents granted to Apple this week. Among the others there was a "Skin tone aware color boost for cameras," "Location-based categorical information services" and a "Consistent backup of electronic information."

The page-turn patent was filed in December 2011, but was approved this week. It claims three inventors: Elizabeth Caroline Cranfill, Stephen Lemay and Mikio Inose.

Apple in the past has filed multiple suits against smartphone makers in the United States for infringement of other Apple patents.

Apple has patented the digital manifestation of something humans have been doing physically for thousands of years.

The technical patent system in the US is bankrupt, as far as I'm concerned, if companies like Apple can patent non-sense like this alongside legitimate technical innovations.

The USPTO is bending over backwards to hand Apple more legal ammunition in their war against other smartphone companies.

[lopri]

Something needs to be done in our patent system. Like 10 years ago. Apple being Apple is, however distasteful, predictable. It's the incompetence of U.S. patent office as well as our lawmakers that get paid by lobby and lawyers while knowing nothing about tech.

[Phokus]

Disgusting

[Zink]

They got the patent for the rectangle with rounded corners this month too.
Before it was a joke, now Apple has been recognized for inventing it. It is just a drawing of a rectangular tablet with rounded corners.

[TuxDave]

Originally Posted by lopri

Something needs to be done in our patent system. Like 10 years ago. Apple being Apple is, however distasteful, predictable. It's the incompetence of U.S. patent office as well as our lawmakers that get paid by lobby and lawyers while knowing nothing about tech.

You want to get rid of design patents? Like this?

http://www.ipwatchdog.com/2009/09/03...bpage/id=5512/

So I guess Google patented the "blank screen with text in the middle" look. Prior art!

I don't know how I feel about design patents. If I was an animator or artist, I would like to stop people from copying but then again people say everyone copies from everyone else.

[Sloper]

It's not that useful guys.

[VirtualLarry]

You know, "shoplocal.com" has been using page-turn animations for some time now. Or at least used to.

(Shoplocal.com is used by other major retailers to provide a Flash-based interface for viewing weekly ad flyers online.)

[ilkhan]

Originally Posted by VirtualLarry

You know, "shoplocal.com" has been using page-turn animations for some time now. Or at least used to.

(Shoplocal.com is used by other major retailers to provide a Flash-based interface for viewing weekly ad flyers online.)

They'll find some other peon to not even consider if the patents in question are valid for the next trial.

[Zaap]

I've gone from Apple fan, to not caring, to openly rooting for their demise.

[Mopetar]

Originally Posted by jpeyton

The technical patent system in the US is bankrupt, as far as I'm concerned, if companies like Apple can patent non-sense like this alongside legitimate technical innovations.

It's not a technical patent. Read the patent itself.

CLAIM The ornamental design for a display screen or portion thereof with animated-graphical user interface, as shown and described.

The only thing that they own is an animation that looks like the one that they've illustrated.

Want to know how easy it is to get around this patent? Just draw the page turn animation as perfectly level no matter what corner you drag from, or what position the drag is in. Hell, given how limited it is, you could probably just do a slanted drag from the top and successfully argue that it's different from what's shown.

[brian0831]

are we going to see apple go after Microsoft for this?

http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/magazine/cc507644.aspx

edit: oops i forgot, this is what the apple vs. samsung foreman said

The software on the Apple side could not be placed into the processor on the prior art and vice versa. That means they are not interchangeable. That changed everything right there.

[waggy]

bwhahahah

/facepalm

[poofyhairguy]

At this point I just end up hoping the EU straightens things out.

[lopri]

A real change is possible in the next couple of congressional seasons. GOP has finally changed its stance on copyrights and started talking senses, I've just learned. It's a quite dramatic development considering their past resistance and "pro-business" stances. I'd like to know more about this document and how things have suddenly changed in that territory.

GOP Policy Brief (PDF)

[swanysto]

Hmm this sounds like apple is going after tabs like nook and fire. Those tabs are able to sell a ton cause of their ecosystem. Maybe next apple can patent ecosystems.

[Mopetar]

Originally Posted by lopri

A real change is possible in the next couple of congressional seasons. GOP has finally changed its stance on copyrights and started talking senses, I've just learned. It's a quite dramatic development considering their past resistance and "pro-business" stances. I'd like to know more about this document and how things have suddenly changed in that territory.

GOP Policy Brief (PDF)

That document is about copyrights, while this is a patent issue. I don't really see how the two are related other than both being a form of intellectual property.

Originally Posted by swanysto

Hmm this sounds like apple is going after tabs like nook and fire. Those tabs are able to sell a ton cause of their ecosystem. Maybe next apple can patent ecosystems.

Please explain how they're going to go after the Nook and Fire. Apple doesn't have a patent on page turning. They have one on for a page turn animation though. Unless the Nook and Fire are using the exact same animation, I don't think either B&N or Amazon have anything to worry about it.

If you all actually want to complain about someone owning a patent on page turning, it should be IBM and not Apple, as they actually have a patent for such a thing. But don't let that get in the way of the two minutes hate.

[Subyman]

I don't see anything in the patent about claiming all page turns, only the one explicitly shown in the drawings. I wonder if iOS devs will still be able to use the animation without written permission?

[lopri]

Originally Posted by Mopetar

That document is about copyrights, while this is a patent issue. I don't really see how the two are related other than both being a form of intellectual property.

You're right, it's about copyrights but since it's part of the IP family along with trademarks and patents, I thought there is a shift in its discourse among "pro-business" folks. Evidently that wasn't the case (if anything it looked as if they wanted to drive the wedge between Hollywood and Silicon Valley, both of which tend to swing liberal)

In any case, it looks like the brief has been taken down. Rofl.

[lopri]

In case anyone's interested, I did downloaded it earlier and uploaded in Google Drive.

https://docs.google.com/file/d/0Bw8P...N6V0pRdTg/edit

[Bateluer]

Originally Posted by swanysto

Hmm this sounds like apple is going after tabs like nook and fire. Those tabs are able to sell a ton cause of their ecosystem. Maybe next apple can patent ecosystems.

Wonder how many enemies Apple will make before they get their peepee really slapped in a law suit? Making enemies of Samsung, Moto, Google, HTC, LG, B&N, Microsoft, and Amazon doesn't seem like a good long term strategy. And with Apple's stock tanking too.

[Brian Stirling]

Apples high water mark was just a bit ago and I think, going forward, there going to see it even harder to compete -- and I think they know it. The current sell off in stock price won't continue in the near term, it'll likely settle in at a still high $400ish, but 5 years from now I'd expect to see it more like $200ish and going lower. They've shot there wad and have, over time, alienated many of there old fans -- that's not good business practice in the long run even if it seems good now.

Apple fell behind Android in smart phones more than a year ago and the Kindle and Nook threaten the highly successful and enormously profitable iPad. While the page turn patent is unlikely to do much to harm Amazon and B&N it does look as though the patent was aimed at them. It will be interesting to see what other aggressive patents Apples applied for in the tab space.

My suspicion is that this is but one of many in this area and that over the next year or three they will have many more. By itself the page turn patent will do little, but if Apple get's ownership of ideas others have been using for years as Apple has managed in the past then they very well might squeeze B&N out of business. I think Amazon is too big to be crushed but I could be wrong.


Brian

[openwheel]

yet people believe that Apple is "innovative".