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Does Apple have a case against Palm?

by Mike Schramm Jan 29th 2009 at 10:00AM

There's been some growling and teeth-baring between Apple and Palm lately, but Engadget wanted to know: does Apple really have a case against Palm for their patented technology? They put their (and our) legal correspondent, Nilay Patel, on the case, and in this long but very interesting analysis piece, he answers: probably.

But things, as usual, aren't that simple. Apple's patents don't just cover "multitouch" -- they cover very specific behaviors using the multitouch feature, and if Palm's Pre phone doesn't use those behaviors, there's no infringement. Of course, Patel is only going off of video of the Pre -- they don't have it in hand yet -- so things could change before the unit is released, but they do find significant evidence that Palm may have stepped on some lines it shouldn't have.

Then again, as Patel and patent attorney Mathew Gavronski discovered, Palm's got some tricks of their own -- they've got a whole slew of easily findable patents that the iPhone appears to infringe upon, including using an ambient light sensor to define brightness, looking up contacts just by using initials, and a number of other functions. Then again again, Apple's got pending patents in the fire that it can revise in case they think Palm is really trying to hone in on their business.

So bottom line, this could be really messy or it could be really simple, and Engadget concludes that the ball is in Apple's court -- if there's going to be a war, they say, the first shot will be from them. Personally, I think it's all corporate posturing -- as Patel points out, Palm has much less to lose, not having sold a single unit yet, and Apple is just making sure they know what's what. But there is a lot of money here, and if one side decides it'll cost less to go after the other, the fur could fly.

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There's been some growling and teeth-baring between Apple and Palm lately, but Engadget wanted to know: does Apple really have a case...
 

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27 Comments

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Gaurav

Can someone please tell me what is the difference between Jailbreaking and Unlocking an I-phone??
And does jailbreaking void the warranty??
What are the other risks with jaibreaking??

February 01 2009 at 12:59 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Whocares

"W.O.A.H that's a ripoff"...yeah you Apple koolaid drinkers are getting ripped off and likely know it, that's why you hate the prospect of anyone else coming up with competing technology.

Ipod (ie Apple) ripped of the multi-directional selector pad from Palm so big deal!

People in glass houses should not throw stones, and you Apple eating sheep need to get off your ivory pedestals.

January 30 2009 at 7:44 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Kevin

Patents were never intended for use by large, established corporations. They were intended for an individual or a small group of individuals who had an idea, so that they would be given sufficient time to research, develop, and bring the idea to market.



January 29 2009 at 10:24 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
lanejasper69

Go Palm!!!

Apple is becoming (has been actually), a greedy scumbag of a company and needs to taken down a peg or two, and YEs, I have a Mac!! I have purchased their products for years, I own a Mac Pro and a MBP among others.

Pre for the Win!!!!

Apple......chill! You are looking like idiots!

January 29 2009 at 7:14 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
TMAN

@ mark
I am an Apple shareholder and I do care. I was planning on buying Palm shares but if they get sued I would hate to lose money there as well.

January 29 2009 at 1:55 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Bill

Using a light sensor to sense light - and then dim or brighten the screen, doesn't sound particularly patentable to me. Then again I'm not a lawyer. How can something that basic be patented? Perhaps the first person that used a screw to hold two things together should patent it.

January 29 2009 at 1:47 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Bill's comment
Steve T

My 1970's TV had an ambient light sensor that would dim the screen in the dark to avoid eyestrain. I think it was an RCA, but I could be wrong. Just how long are patents in effect for these days?

January 30 2009 at 5:42 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Steve

That's correct. The Smalltalk system that was demonstrated to Steve Jobs by Dan Ingalls and Adele Goldberg was actually later licensed to Apple, and other companies for $1.

January 29 2009 at 1:25 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Fritz Laurel

All patents are bogus and do nothing but stifle competition which just hurts the consumer in the end, IMHO.

A company as large (and with as much cash on hand) as Apple should feel very capable in its ability to compete and shouldn't rely on outdated legal instruments like patents to manage their competition, keeping the marketplace stagnant in the process.

January 29 2009 at 12:18 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Fritz Laurel's comment
Orion

In your logic, if you created an amazing device, I could literally copy it straight from you. If I had more marketing dollars to spend than you, people would know about my product first instead of yours. How fair would that be to you that you spent all the time creating something and I just came and took it..

I think you'd be downright ticked off. But oh no, because it's a major corporation it's A OK.

I hope Apple sues the crap out of Palm. I'm sick and tired of all these clones. Why don't computer companies OTHER THAN APPLE come up with their OWN new ideas. Seriously.. when was the last time you ever saw Compaq, Nokia, etc come up with something that didn't look like a bloody rip off of the other 1000's of ones that already existed.

I applaud innovation, and just like Nintendo, Apple has every right to sue others for the use of their ideas..their market essentially. To say they have no right to keep it for their own, and theirs alone would create chaos. No one would own anything anymore, and I'd be able to make quite a fancy living off of other good people's hard work.

Again, your logic is meant for Fantasy Land.

January 29 2009 at 2:51 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Shorty

APLien v PREdator. In 2009, one still needs cut-n-paste cheats.

January 29 2009 at 11:36 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
Andrew

nicely done image: apple v. palm = a v. p = alien v. predator!

January 29 2009 at 11:25 AM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
1 reply to Andrew's comment
oliver hart

Ya tuaw didn't create that image, I believe nilay and others at engadget did it. I know tuaw is a sister site, but why post the exact same thing the next day? Why not link it? Engadgets crew deserves all the credit. And apple doesn't have a case. Apple stole a ton of palms patents (ambient light recog, conference call feature-verbatm!, and a slew of others) if apple sues, they'll be risking losing in court once those issues come to light. Go read the engadget post. It's in depth and totally on point.

January 29 2009 at 2:07 PM Report abuse rate up rate down Reply
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