August 30, 2012

Final Apple vs. Samsung Post: There’s No Patent on Pinch-to-Zoom

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One final (I hope!) post on the Apple vs. Samsung patent case. Here’s what I now believe about the three utility patents:

  • Patent 381 covers inertial scrolling (the faster you move your finger, the faster a list scrolls) and the “bounce,” or “rubber band” effect when you reach the end of a list.
  • Patent 163 covers tap-to-zoom (on an iPhone, if you double tap a document, that section of the document is zoomed and centered; if you tap once with two fingers, that section of the document is de-zoomed).
  • Patent 915 covers the programming interface for both the bounce effect and tap-to-zoom.

That’s it. The pinch-to-shrink and spread-to-zoom feature of the iPhone isn’t part of the case at all. If you read through the patents you’ll find descriptions of lots of things, including pinch-to-zoom, but don’t let that throw you. What matters is what’s in the actual claims, and the only claims at issue were Claim 19 of the 381 patent (page 58), Claim 50 of the 163 patent (page 49), and Claim 8 of the 915 patent (page 51).

As for the design patents, it’s a mistake to think that Apple won a patent for “rounded corners.” What they showed wasn’t a single infringement, but that Samsung had slavishly copied the physical design, icon design, home page design, and packaging design of the iPhone — and then left behind an email trail showing what they’d done. That’s why Samsung lost, not because their phones have rounded corners.

For more on this, Cassidy James had an interesting piece a few days ago showing how Google designed around Apple’s patents. It turns out that it’s not all that hard.

BOTTOM LINE: I don’t think this case is nearly as important as it’s being made out. (1) The bounce effect is a nonobvious invention, and something that really is unique to Apple. It’s also easy to design around. (2) The tap-to-zoom patent is unfortunate. I don’t think it’s unique enough to deserve protection. (3) And the design patents aren’t for individual design choices (like rounded corners), but for the totality of Apple’s design. That kind of thing has been protectable for a long time, and isn’t hard to design around.

In the end, then, tap-to-zoom is really the only part of the case that seems overbearing, and who knows? It might get overturned on appeal. But even if it’s not, it’s just one feature. It’s not the end of the world.

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

About that: It’s unfathomably hard in the news business right now, and we came up about $28,000 short during our recent fall fundraising campaign. We simply have to make that up soon to avoid falling further behind than can be made up for, or needing to somehow trim $1 million from our budget, like happened last year.

If you can, please support the reporting you get from Mother Jones—that exists to make a difference, not a profit—with a donation of any amount today. We need more donations than normal to come in from this specific blurb to help close our funding gap before it gets any bigger.

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