These lawsuits are getting a bit ridiculous. I'm sure eventually Apple will get sued for making the Car with 4 wheels and a motor.
Apple themselves is very guilty of this: For example, rounded corners, Click to call, the infamous 'realtime API' debacle, suing someone because they sued them... and of course, stealing the swipe-to-unlock feature then suing people who use it.
Apple's a huge patent troll. I wouldn't be surprised in the slightest if Apple tries to sue google over driverless cars.
I doubt you'll ever see Apple suing Google over anything, nor Google ever suing Apple.
These guys didn't just pop up overnight, they appear to have been working on this for a while.
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/894,489, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Providing Tactile Sensations," which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/693,117, filed Mar. 29, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,808,488, issued Oct. 5, 2010, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Providing Tactile Sensations," which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/285,450 filed Nov. 1, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,336,260, issued Feb. 26, 2008, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Providing Tactile Sensations", which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/335,493, filed Nov. 1, 2001, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/399,883, filed Jul. 31, 2002, the entirety of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
In US Law system, do the side who loses the court had to pay for all the legal fees including defendant's lawyer's fees.
No they don't, which is part of the problem. Thedr folk are hoping that Apple will settle rather than spend money on a court case. Of course they won't.
In the UK, if you lose such a case then you have to pay the winner's legal fees. This is why we don't have a problem with frivolous lawsuits.
Well, if you score 10 out of 10 in every aspect of your claim or defence, you 'may' be awarded costs, but it's not automatic.
I suspect there is plenty of prior artwork on this whole concept. Vibrators in phone and pages have been around a long time, and they have been programmable to feedback depending on the input, I know I have been able to customize the vibrator on my phone long before the iphone came out. I think some though they have a new great idea but it really was not. Also game controller have had feedback vibrators for a long time and flight simulators as well. Unless this company was the one who develop this technology for gaming and flight simulators I am not sure they have a solid case.
Just disregard me statement about prior artworks, looks like this company has been around a long time with their technology.
What's your point? As I mentioned above, the patent they are using is a continuation of a haptic-related patent granted a patent in 2008, that further built upon patent application filings from 2001/2002.
Comments
CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATION
This application is a continuation of co-pending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/894,489, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Providing Tactile Sensations," which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 11/693,117, filed Mar. 29, 2007, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,808,488, issued Oct. 5, 2010, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Providing Tactile Sensations," which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/285,450 filed Nov. 1, 2002, now U.S. Pat. No. 7,336,260, issued Feb. 26, 2008, entitled "Method and Apparatus for Providing Tactile Sensations", which claims priority to U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/335,493, filed Nov. 1, 2001, and U.S. Provisional Application No. 60/399,883, filed Jul. 31, 2002, the entirety of all of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
I suspect there is plenty of prior artwork on this whole concept. Vibrators in phone and pages have been around a long time, and they have been programmable to feedback depending on the input, I know I have been able to customize the vibrator on my phone long before the iphone came out. I think some though they have a new great idea but it really was not. Also game controller have had feedback vibrators for a long time and flight simulators as well. Unless this company was the one who develop this technology for gaming and flight simulators I am not sure they have a solid case.
Just disregard me statement about prior artworks, looks like this company has been around a long time with their technology.
http://appleinsider.com/articles/13/02/19/apple-awarded-patent-for-more-accurate-haptic-feedback-system