Cover Flow as seen in Safari 4.0.
Posted on 01/22/2015 2:50:52 AM PST by Swordmaker
In a new patent lawsuit with the Northern California District Court on Tuesday, so-called "patent troll" TriDim Innovations claims Apple infringed two 3D user interface patents with Safari for iOS 7 and iOS 8, Cover Flow and Time Machine.
TriDim, a patent holding firm, (a non-performing entity — Swordmaker) , is asserting two patents against Apple, claiming it has suffered and continues to suffer damages through distribution and sale of iOS 7 and iOS 8 devices running Safari, as well as various implementations of Cover Flow and Time Machine. The suit was spotted by MacRumors on Wednesday.
According to the filing, Apple willfully infringed on U.S. Patents No. 5,838,326 and No. 5,847,709, both of which cover three-dimensional user interface workspaces similar to Apple's Cover Flow. The inventions were filed for in 1996 and subsequently assigned to Xerox in 1998.
Plaintiffs argue that Apple had knowledge of the '326 patent from at least 2009, when it filed for its own patents covering similar display technology. Further, the suit notes Apple has cited the '326 patent as prior art in 23 inventions relating to the Cover Flow interface.
As for the '709 patent, Apple supposedly knew about that particular invention from at least August 2014, as evidenced in another disclosure covering a patent for Safari.
This is the second time Apple has been sued for its use of Cover Flow and, as an extension, Time Machine. In 2008, a firm called Mirror Worlds brought suit against the Cupertino tech giant in Southern Texas, a court jurisdiction known to be patent owner-friendly.
Mirror Worlds won an initial $625.5 million ruling in 2010, but Apple successfully appealed and in 2012 had the verdict tossed.
Apple took on legal responsibility for Cover Flow after purchasing the technology from a small software company called Steel Skies in 2006. The feature was originally implemented as a way for iOS device users to browse through collections of iTunes music using multitouch. Apple later ported the function to Safari, but discontinued the rarely used viewing option in OS X Mavericks with the introduction of Safari 7.0.
TriDim is seeking a trial for undetermined damages, lawyer fees and post-judgment interest, as well as an injunction against further use of the IP described in the two patents.
I've read through both TriDim patents at issue and there's nothing in them that could possibly be construed to be infringed by any of the software that they list that Apple is using. First of all, their rudimentary 3D isn't 3D.
It appears that Xerox was attempting to create another Graphical User Interface. . . but most of the metaphors had been used before. The one possible unique thing was the ability of the user to add new interactive parts to the metaphor. . . but that is obvious, akin to adding a new folder. This attempt, like other similar ones which were deemed too cutesy, was abandoned by Xerox and these two patents were sold. They were traded around until TriDim, a non-performing entity, a patent troll, got its grubby hands on them.
There were "Room" metaphors before such as Microsoft Bob. . . and others for as diverse operating systems as AmigaOS, Atari, the Commodore-C64 and C-128, even the Macintosh, and a lot of their data maneuvering seems to have been borrowed heavily from Apple's Hypercard Stacks of the 1980s.
it is possible they are basing their complaint against Safari in iOS because the user can create new tabs. . . there-by "infringing" their "709" patent by adding new "rooms", but that would be a HUGE stretch of logic. I can find no other claim for them to hang their hats on. CoverFlow looks as if they are basing their claim on the fact they have flowing side-to-side navigation through "streets" with "buildings" that users can enter to find more "rooms" with "shelves" of "books" and "documents" and other things to do. This horizontal scrolling may be what they think they have a patent right to. . . ignoring the horizontal scrolling that was prior art in many other applications that existed prior to their application for the patent. Same for the front-to-back scrolling of TimeMachine.
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Apple has to make a lot of money ... simply to defend itself from these patent trolls!
I’m all for LOSER PAYS in these frivilous lawsuits, but we’ll never get that as long as a ‘RAT is in the White House and until we have some national leadership with guts.
Anybody else remember Microsoft "BOB"???
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