And With Those 200 iPhone Patents Come The Inevitable Patent Disputes

Legal Issues

from the nuclear-standoff dept

We’ve spent a fair amount of time discussing Apple’s decision to hype up the 200 patents it supposedly holds on technologies included in the upcoming iPhone. Initially, we wondered why they actually needed such patents — as it was hardly a protective measure. Try as they might, no other company is going to easily come up with a phone that has nearly the same brand factor that Apple can muster up from its fans. Furthermore, it’s been pretty clear that most of the “new” features seen the iPhone aren’t really that new. About the only explanation we heard that made sense for hyping the patents was to make up for the bad deal the company signed with Cingular, which will limit the distribution of the iPhone initially.

However, a second reason is becoming clear — and it’s (unfortunately) one of the most popular reasons for getting (and hyping) patents these days: nuclear stockpiling. That is, you want to have all these patents to hopefully ward off others with patents who will want to take a bite out of your success should your technology go anywhere. Already, we’ve seen claims from LG that Apple was copying an LG phone with its iPhone design. The latest, pointed out by Engadget is that Quantum Research, who has already sued Apple over the click wheel on the iPod is gearing up to sue over the touch screen interface, which it claims to hold patents on. “The description of the iPhone suggests it uses a rear-surface touch screen, and has proximity sensing which can tell if it is held to the ear. That’s a QR capability.” So now Apple can saber rattle back with its collection of 200 patents against anyone who claims infringement on it — and then hope that the threat of all out nuclear patent war leads the two sides to come to an “agreement.” It’s not efficient. It’s not good for innovation or progress… but it’s how the system works, and it’s why so many patent attorneys don’t want it to change.