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The patents in this case that I found most disturbing weren't the ones to do with rounded rectangles (that never existed before the ipad of course...) but the ones to do with gestures on the touch surface.
Pinch to Zoom in particular. Moving your fingers together to indicate make it smaller and moving them apart to indicate make it larger is something human beings have likely been doing for as long as we were able to comprehend size. On top of this, there are only so many gestures possible on a flat surface with limited human dexterity without getting into the ridiculous or unwieldy.
After the small handful of possible gestures - all with origins in natural, obvious actions - are patented, what else is there?
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Comments
Subscribe to Comments FeedLibTekHed Said:
I only have one finger gesture for apple products..
LibertyBudget.com Said:
It's called "Prior Art". I can't believe that some patent examiner couldn't find several good examples of this motion being in the prior art. I'm surprised that Ziploc or some other sandwich bag maker hasn't gotten involved. I have to spread my fingers to open those bag openings bigger and pinch my fingers together to make the bag opening smaller or closed!