Samsung goes on offense, aims to bust Apple patents
What's old is new again in the case between Apple and Samsung. Samsung points to two early 2000s gesture technologies to discredit the patents Apple is using to wage war on its rival.
SAN JOSE, Calif. -- One of Samsung's main strategies against Apple has been to point to "prior art," pre-existing versions of the features and designs made by others that could potentally invalidate the patents Apple is wielding against it.
In the earlier part of the trial, Samsung focused on patents for phone designs. Today, though, the company got into the guts of Apple's software -- in particular, the gestures people use to control iPhones and iPads.
Samsung brought out a pair of "fact witnesses" -- i.e. not experts -- involved in technology that predates some of the patented features found in Apple's devices. That includes something seemingly simple like photos and lists bouncing back into place, as well as the "pinch-to-zoom" gesture -- both things Apple says Samsung is infringing with its devices.
First up was Benjamin Bederson, a computer-science professor from the University of Maryland and the co-creator of LaunchTile. This zoomable network of smartphone apps was a mid-2000s invention, and one Samsung hopes will bust one of Apple's patents.
LaunchTile was released for devices running Microsoft's PocketPC mobile software near the end of 2004 (see CNET's original coverage here), and in Bederson's own words aimed to help "people access a lot information" on mobile devices It accomplished that with a screen full of thumbnail previews for mobile apps that users could zoom into to access information.
As Bederson demoed today, that involved three distinct zoom levels, which give users different levels of information depending on how zoomed in they are. That included a "world view," "zone view" and "application view." All told there were 36 such apps in this view, and users would have to find what they were looking for by navigating from that home screen: