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Thursday, December 30, 2010, 11:10 am
'Double-click' patent lawsuit attacks Apple's iPhone, iPad
A new patent lawsuit takes aim at a number of major technology companies, including Apple, HTC and Nokia, over a patent related to selecting interactive content with a double-click or double-tap.Hopewell Culture and Design this month sued the companies claiming violation of U.S. Patent No. 7,171,625, entitled "Double-Clicking a Point-and-Click User Interface Apparatus to Enable a New Interaction with Content represented by an Active Visual Display Element." The patent was first filed for ownership in 2002 by assignee Actify, Inc., based in San Francisco, Calif.
The patents notes that double-clicking has been a feature of computers for some time, but it "has not been used to effect user input to a Web browser that uniquely corresponds to the double-click input."
With regard to Apple, Hopewell believes the company's mobile devices are in violation of the '625 patent. Specifically named in the suit are the iPhone and iPad, which it says have software that allows a user to "double click or double tap a visual element representing interactive content and interact with a second version of the interactive content."
Aside from naming the iPhone and iPad, the lawsuit makes no mention of what about iOS in particular it believes is in violation of its patent.
Also named in the suit is Adobe, as Hopewell hopes to prove to a court that its Adobe Reader software is in violation of the '625 patent. From HTC, the Droid Eris, Droid Incredible, Hero and EVO smartphones are specifically listed.
Also a target of the lawsuit is Finnish handset maker Nokia, as Hopewell believes its mobile devices, including the N900 and N97 are in violation of the cited patent. The remaining defendants in the suit are LG Electronics, Motorola, browser maker Opera, Palm, Quickoffice, and Samsung.
Hopewell aims to receive "adequate" damages from the numerous technology companies it is targeting. The lawsuit was filed in a U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas, a region known for favorable outcomes in patent lawsuits.
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Previous Comments View All
A new patent lawsuit takes aim at a number of major technology companies, including Apple, HTC and Nokia, over a patent related to selecting interactive content with a double-click or double-tap....
This sounds like the "inventor" of the double-click is trying to extend it to the double-tap, so he can get paid all over again. Shameless.
It clearly doesn't apply. The title alone: "Double-Clicking a Point-and-Click User Interface Apparatus to Enable a New Interaction with Content represented by an Active Visual Display Element."Implies an "apparatus" (mouse) with which you "click." Tapping with your finger instead of a mouse is entirely different.
Only this particular court (Texas
), would have even entertained the case at all.
"Double-Clicking a Point-and-Click User Interface Apparatus to Enable a New Interaction with Content represented by an Active Visual Display Element."
So... trying to patent the CONCEPT of double-clicking.
Yeah. This will get laughed out of the courtroom. I just wish I was the judge to do the laughing.
Not again...
Not to be rude, but are you a throwaway account designed to make fun of solipsism?
Are you serious? Wow.
Hopewell Culture and Design this month sued the companies claiming violation of U.S. Patent No. 7,171,625, entitled "Double-Clicking a Point-and-Click User Interface Apparatus to Enable a New Interaction with Content represented by an Active Visual Display Element." The patent was first filed for ownership in 2002 by assignee Actify, Inc., based in San Francisco, Calif.
Hopewell aims to receive "adequate" damages from the numerous technology companies it is targeting. The lawsuit was filed in a U.S. District Court in the Eastern District of Texas, a region known for favorable outcomes in patent lawsuits.
Agreed. Both companies are based in California, and the suit is filed in Texas? That's a signature mark of a patent troll right there. Another: If you don't have one of the top three hits pointing to their site on a search engine for the organization. Any organization that can afford to pursue in court should have web site. The top ten hits I found were concerning this and other lawsuits.
How could the US patent office grant such duplicate idea? Double-clicking on an icon to initiate an action is an idea already implemented more than twenty five years ago by Apple. I wonder what Steve Jobs will react to such lawsuit.
Since this was invented by Xerox way before 2002 this had better be thrown out. This is Marshall, Texas though... When will national cases have a national jury? A small pool of jurors in a remote area have way too much power. It is a conflict of interest because they award huge payouts to get the lawyers to come to their town and use their services (airports, hotels, shops, etc.).
Someone needs to get a patent for patent trolling so they can sue all these bastards. They are immune to the reasons big companies don't usually sue each other because they don't make anything so they can't be counter sued. Most of these companies acquire the patents from another company, go to a court that doesn't care about the validity of patents (they just blindly enforce them with enormous payouts), sue everyone they can, then pocket the money and close up shop. They normally buy overly generic patents that should never have been granted in the first place so they can sue the largest number of companies.
According to an article linked on the Wikipedia Marshall Court House page, most of the lawyers involved in these patent trolling cases are former ambulance chasers that needed a new line of work after Texas put limits on medical malpractice payouts.
...
Not to be rude, but are you [Solipcyst] a throwaway account designed to make fun of solipsism?
It's the serial troll recently known as iLuv (probably tekstud).
WOW...no recession for lawyers. Maybe I should go back to lawyer school.....
btw..."Jury Trial Demanded". Demanded? Really? REALLY?
Agreed. The patent office should hire people who know to throw this stuff out.
It's not just that double click has been around since the Mac, or that the iOs devices are touch, not click, devices but that I can't think of any double touch actions on iOs either.
Dual touch, or multi touch, yes but not the same action twice in rapid succession with one finger.
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They just HAD to get one more patent lawsuit before the end of the year