“Apple has been slapped with another patent infringement lawsuit – but the suit says more about the festering sore that is the US patent system than it does about the individual patents involved. The lawsuit was filed by Austin, Texas inventor Eric Gould Bear, President and CEO of interface design firm MonkeyMedia. The core of his infringement claim is that his patents cover a user-interface concept that he calls ‘Seamless Contraction’ – essentially a set of techniques to narrow the display of information to that which is most ‘salient’, to use his term, to the user’s needs.”
I would have thought that WebOS, Windows Phone 7 and Android would be more likely to infringe on this than iPhone OS, just by it’s description. But then it’s also likely that none of them are generating enough profits to make them a target.
Interesting part from TFA:
…
Not only is this interesting — it’s hilarious!
Jobs takes his designer knockoff gadgets a little too seriously.
Too bad that it was “Bear and Monkey” suing and not “Moose and Squirrel“: http://reviews.goldenagecartoons.com/2006/bullwinkle3/bullwinkleroc…
Such a scenario would truly reveal Jobs to be “Fearless Leader“: http://brucemctague.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/Fearless_Leader_…
Edited 2010-05-17 17:14 UTC
Take that Apple!
I think more companies should sue Apple. Let’s see: Nokia, HTC, Gummy Bears… Psystar, it’s your turn.
/rant
Edited 2010-05-17 13:23 UTC