Apple's crown jewels of innovation
Consider the patents at issue in Apple v. Samsung (II), due for trial in early 2014.
5,946,647, filed Feb 1, 1996 and granted Aug 31, 1999: To a first approximation, this is a patent on a class of computer programs - a general flow chart is provided to facilititate understanding - to perform functions such as those for which Perl was developed and has been used since 1988. For doubters who would point to the patent's mention of mouse selection, TkPerl was released in 1994 and Perl/Tk in 1995. As for mentions of audio interfaces, it would be quite unsurprising if CPAN did not contain modules before 1996 for interaction with sound transducers, both input and output.
6,847,959, filed Jan 5, 2000, granted Jan 25, 2005: This patent appears to cover any modular application that searches more than one source and optionally filters the resulting matches using a ranking algorithm. This seems a bit wide ranging, not to say obvious; likely to have been done using Perl and available CPAN modules before 2000.
8,046,721, filed Jun 2, 2009, granted Oct 25, 2011: Unlocking a device using a gesture. Much already has been written on that.
8,074,172, filed Jan 5, 2007, granted Dec 6,2011: GUI for offering and accepting completions for partial words on a touch screen. Maybe novel, but possibly already done earlier in substance in keyboard based word processing programs. It might be good, if you like software patents and agree that a new patent should be given for an obvious use of a new type of input device. Patent 5,896,321, filed Nov 14, 1997 and granted to Microsoft on Apr 20, 1999 might otherwise be considered prior art. That one seems to have quite a load of references, suggesting, if it needed to be any more, that software patents are a nasty problem.
8,014,760, filed Jun 27,2007, granted Sep 6,2011. Patenting a computer program for managing email or missed telephone calls in a graphic environment using a touch screen display. All the claims are rather obvious (suggesting there might be prior art from, e. g., Samsung, Sony, LG, Nokia ...). Additionally, a skilled practitioner of the application design art would be likely to develop an application very like that described if told to provide an application for managing contact information and the related telephone calls, email, and text messages.
5,666,502, filed Aug 7, 1995, granted Sep 9, 1997: Patenting prioritized drop-down selection lists for a pen-based computer system (claims 1 - 7, and 13). Claims 8 - 11 and 14 - 26 do not specify the type of selection tool, and claim 12 lays claim to doing this on a "pointer-based computer system." I believe I learned in a PowerBuilder developer class (probably 1993 or 1994) how to do this in a Windows environment, so it was likely not new in mid-1995. It might come down to whether something already current can be patented in a new environment or should simply be considered an obvious adaptation to be made in passing by the skilled practitioners of the art.
7,761,414, filed Jan 7, 2007, granted Jul 20, 2010: Asynchronous Data Synchronization Amongst Devices. This patents a program similar to RSync (released initially on Jun 19, 1996) with, in some claims, file locking or a shell script using rcp or scp together with flock as described in section 1 of the Unix Programmer's Manual. It seems pretty aggressive to claim a patent on using a standard Unix command for its intended purpose. Some claims refer specifically to one of the systems being hand held, but most do not. The specification of "asynchronous" is in that it is obvious on any multitasking OS. This should be ditched for both obviousness and prior art, and the approving patent examiner cautioned.
8,086,604, filed Dec 1 2004, granted Dec 27 2011: Another search patent, extending 6,847,959. Another example of the mischief of software patents. At first glance it looks the same as the earlier patent. I've been at this a while and have no patience for a second.
I will treasure my 1995 Powermac 8500 (with Debian Squeeze) until it dies. Apple has joined Sony on my no-buy list.