Details on Nokia's complaint against Apple UI
updated 01:15 pm EST, Mon January 4, 2010
Patents cover clickwheels, cameras, keyboards
More concrete facts have emerged on Nokia's complaint to the International Trade Commission about Apple. Finnish publication Taloussanomat reports that the complaint is nearly 50 pages long, and mentions several specific technologies as being stolen. These include the clickwheels on iPods, and the enlarged key icons seen when tapping on an iPhone or iPod touch's virtual keyboard.
Other interface elements said to be copied from Nokia include highlights of web and e-mail links in messages, and the automatic shutoff of touchscreen controls when bringing a phone to the ear. Apple is also accused of breaking one patent on combining multiple camera functions on the same chip, and another relating to merging a speaker and an antenna. Both are connected in terms of space-saving measures.
Taloussanomat also reports that Nokia has plans to begin a second lawsuit against Apple, in addition to the one filed in October. The company must still contend with an Apple countersuit, which alleges that it has copied the iPhone because it cannot otherwise compete. While Nokia remains a dominant phone maker worldwide, it has lost smartphone share to companies like Apple and RIM.
Fresh-Faced Recruit
Joined: Jul 2008
I suspect...
that many of Nokia's complaints won't fly, too generic or unenforceable. A lot fo people do not know, for example, that you can put any title on a book you want as titles are not copyrightable. On the other hand, I'm sure there is merit to Apple's cpuntersuit which is most likely "more current" in terms of trying to save Nokia's bacon. Nokia had boring products and now they claim Apple stole their boring stuff!