Could you please explain what this patent entails then?
Too many times discussions on here have been shortcircuited by claims that the complainant just doesn't understand patents. The discussion fizzles and the absurdist situation with software patents continues.
I've read this patent in detail, as gruelling a task as that is, and it does seem to be as trivial as others are suggesting (as is the case for most trivial patents that get criticized on here). The claims that detail, essentially, a computer are boilerplate in 99% of software patents. They are not particularly relevant and add little specificity.
EDIT: Another submitter has posted a listing of Apple's specific complaints, and it is exactly as others are suggesting -- Regex'ing input and identifying types of text.
In this case, it looks like Apple is looking to fire the cheapest missiles that have a chance of hurting. The patent does indeed seem to cover the packaging of (what used to be called in OS9 days) "apple data detectors" with a computer. IIRC, Steve Jobs, in his iPhone announcement keynote speech, said that they've filed about 200 patents. This shows how serious they are about not only building these path breaking things, but also about protecting their inventions. I haven't checked, but it seems a bit unlikely that those 200 applications (or the late part of them) haven't yet been granted.
The situation, in other words, looks like a ticking time bomb for the other phones looking to copy the iphone - android or whatever.
Is there anyone who's analyzed apple potential patent portfolio in the mobile space?
To a degree, yes absolutely. The overwhelming majority of software developers, I suspect (invented stat), are against software patents, and the few who aren't suffer the illusion that deep in the obtuse language of patents there really is something novel...because they've been told such in so many internet discussions (that usually follow exactly the course of this one). I don't think that is true, and the illusion that there is something deeper is purely because we seldom talk about the specifics because patents are so horrendously worded, with so much boilerplate.
Thankfully Apple itself has provided such an interpretation, and their interpretation, worded to best be in their favor, is exactly as trivial as many have suspected.
This is a critically important discussion for this industry.
Do you really think that the opinion of people on HN has a measurable impact on our patent system?
Getting geeks to dislike patents is easy. We have a lot of geeks who hate patents and are passionate about it. Yet the patent system hasn't been changing as a result. Why not?
Do you really think that the opinion of people on HN has a measurable impact on our patent system?
Getting geeks to dislike patents is easy. We have a lot of geeks who hate patents and are passionate about it. Yet the patent system hasn't been changing as a result. Why not?
If you can't get geeks, who should all have at least some distaste for software patents, to agree on a solid argument against them, then how can you expect to convince congress? One could view these geeks-only debates as individual geeks refining their arguments and accumulating additional information, in preparation for attacking the problem at its legislative source.
Isn't that kind of strange? Aren't we the ones who most benefit from patents?
"Do you really think that the opinion of people on HN has a measurable impact on our patent system?"
Yes I absolutely do. In fact I think the next 24 months will see a lot of debate and eventually significant change to software patents in the US. All I care about are defusing those who attempt to make everyone feel too ignorant to have an opinion about patents (such attempts appear in every discussion about patents. Lots of hand waving about how we all just don't get it, leave it for the big boys, etc)
No. The two groups that benefit most directly from patents are established companies which wish to block competitors, and patent trolls which wish to sue lots of people.
For the kind of startups that HN people are interested in, patents are an exercise of interest mostly because of their potential value to investors and purchasers. But in the meantime they cost money, don't affect sales one bit, and you likely won't get them until years after it is obvious whether you've succeeded or failed as a business.
Until the big boys decide that the cost of patent trolls exceeds the benefit of their patent moats, nothing will change about patent law. In particular I see no sign that the next 24 months is critical. In fact I'm willing to bet you money on that. The next 24 months is mostly going to be spent with a Republican Congress (who see patents as "business friendly" and have bigger political fish to fry) fighting with Obama. After that we'll have a new administration, which is going to focus on top political stuff for their first 100 days.
My personal suspicion is that the economy is going to go south again, credit problems are coming back in a big way, and financial/economic issues are going to keep software patents off of the list of priorities for a long time.
Too many times discussions on here have been shortcircuited by claims that the complainant just doesn't understand patents. The discussion fizzles and the absurdist situation with software patents continues.
I've read this patent in detail, as gruelling a task as that is, and it does seem to be as trivial as others are suggesting (as is the case for most trivial patents that get criticized on here). The claims that detail, essentially, a computer are boilerplate in 99% of software patents. They are not particularly relevant and add little specificity.
EDIT: Another submitter has posted a listing of Apple's specific complaints, and it is exactly as others are suggesting -- Regex'ing input and identifying types of text.