4 ms·

Wouldn't it be great to just program things without worrying about patenting what you've done or whether someone else has patented it?

• tlholaday 14y ago
  Wouldn't it be great to just copy successful devices without paying a designer?
  • mibbitier 14y ago
    "pinch to zoom" is obvious. It's practically the only way you could zoom things on a touch screen. It's like patenting the steering wheel. Don't pretend it's innovative or took any time whatsoever to come up with. It's blatantly obvious and should never have been granted.
    • ahoyhere 14y ago
      If it's obvious, why didn't it exist on any of the touchscreen products which went before the iPhone?
      • pjscott 14y ago
        How many of those touchscreens could detect multiple touches at once? That's a prerequisite for doing pinch-to-zoom with a capacitive touchscreen.
      • mibbitier 14y ago
        It likely existed on the first light-pen devices from the 80s. Apple just happened to popularize it.
• rayiner 14y ago
  I understand the appeal of this line of argument, and to an extent I agree with it. I think independent invention is a real problem with patents as applied to software. Yet, Samsung didn't independently invent a phone that diverges from the Android default to look more like the iPhone.