patent

Apple patent application blends touch, voice, face

Apple may be thinking about adding new ways to improve the multitouch interface work that is central to the company's plan for the future.

Unwired View unearthed a patent application filed by Apple (thanks, Gizmodo) containing ideas for a user interface system that builds on the multitouch input used on the iPhone by adding technology for voice recognition and even facial recognition.

Wayne Westerman and John Elias, the brains behind a multitouch interface company called Fingerworks, acquired by Apple in 2005, are listed as inventors on the patent application, as they have been for several other multitouch patents coming … Read more

Judge: Qualcomm violates Broadcom ruling

The legal drama between wireless chipmakers Qualcomm and Broadcom continues this week.

On Thursday, the companies said a federal judge has ruled that Qualcomm is in contempt of an injunction that bans the use of patented wireless technology owned by Broadcom.

U.S. District Judge James Selna ruled that Qualcomm violated an injunction issued last year that banned Qualcomm from using technology in its chips that violates Broadcom's patents on wireless technology. The judge also ruled that Qualcomm has not been paying royalties to Broadcom for the use of its technology in Qualcomm-based cell phones with QChat walkie-talkie feature. … Read more

Apple applies for touch-screen Mac patent

Rumors of Apple working on a touch-screen Mac have been circulating for years, and will only grow with the revelation that the company is hoping to patent similar technology.

A number of Mac sites on Thursday are pointing to a U.S. patent application granted for what would appear to be the mythical Mac tablet. AppleInsider has a description of the device discussed in the application, which appears to bring a lot of the iPhone's multitouch functionality to a slate-like tablet computer.

Given Apple' focus on multitouch user interfaces over the past year, there has been a fair amount … Read more

Microsoft, Nikon sign patent-sharing deal

Microsoft and Nikon have signed a cross-licensing deal that gives each company access to the other's patents.

The deal is one of a growing list from Microsoft, which has been seeking to establish the heft and significance of its intellectual property effort.

Detailed terms of the Nikon deal weren't disclosed, but the companies said Nikon is compensating Microsoft through the alliance.

"The companies believe that this patent cross-licensing agreement will substantially benefit customers of consumer products including digital cameras," the companies said in a statement Wednesday. "Both parties will be able to innovate openly with … Read more

Patents.com lets you search through ideas (good and bad)

Got the next big idea floating around in your head but want to see if someone else has already come up with it? Digging through the mountain of patents on file at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office's Web site can be a bit daunting. To help in that search is Patents.com, which has an index of more than 450 million patents in 15 different languages. All of this is combined with an online marketplace where these patents can be bought and sold.

Like Google's patent search offering, Patents.com offers some great exploration, which is … Read more

Google, Verizon, others sued over voice mail patent

A patent holding company that has won settlements from Apple, AT&T, and others sued Google, Verizon, and a handful of other companies on Tuesday for allegedly infringing on patents related to voice mail, according to a report from Reuters.

In addition to Google and Verizon, other defendants in the lawsuit filed by Klausner Technologies are: Cox Communications, LG Electronics, Comverse Technology, Embarq, PhoneFusion, RingCentral, and Grand Central, which was acquired by Google last year.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court in Tyler, Texas, alleges the companies are infringing his patents related to visual voice mail.

Representatives … Read more

Microsoft patents Page Up/Down functionality

Lest IBM be accused of being the only big software vendor to apply for and receive silly patents, Microsoft is proving its silliness mettle with the award of a patent on Page Up/Page Down functionality. And to think that I've been using that functionality for years without knowing that Microsoft had yet to invent it!

I used to believe that patents had to be non-obvious to make the cut, but Microsoft here demonstrates that the only obvious thing about patents is that the more they encumber the industry with both silly and even useful "inventions," innovation … Read more

Hillcrest Labs sues Nintendo over Wii controller patents

This post was updated at 4:20 p.m. PT with Nintendo's response.

The Nintendo Wii is the subject of yet another patent dispute.

On Wednesday, Maryland-based Hillcrest Labs announced that it has filed a complaint for patent infringement with the U.S. International Trade Commission, as well as a separate patent infringement suit in a U.S. District Court in Maryland regarding Nintendo's video game console.

Hillcrest is asking the ITC to stop the import of Wii consoles into the U.S., and is requesting that the U.S. District Court award unspecified monetary damages.

Hillcrest, which … Read more

Dell refused 'cloud computing' trademark

Dell's attempt to trademark the term "cloud computing" faced another setback last week after the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office sent the company a "non-final" refusal of its application.

The PTO informed Dell on August 12 that its registration of the trademark for the term "cloud computing" was refused because "the applied-for mark merely describes a feature and characteristic of applicant's services...In addition to being merely descriptive, the applied-for mark appears to be generic in connection with the identified services and, therefore, incapable of functioning as a source-identifier for … Read more