Apple Awarded Scroll Bar Patent, Effectively Gives Company Legal Nuclear Bomb

[Phillip Swanson]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office awarded Apple a patent covering vertical and horizontal UI scroll bars.

Yes. Apple has a patent on scroll bars.

Patent No. 8,223,134 for “Portable electronic device, method, and graphical user interface for displaying electronic lists and documents" covers the implementation of transparent and disappearing vertical scroll bars in essentially everything. These are the same bars that appear when scrolling any webpage, playlist, and any type of “digital document” that cannot be fully displayed on a screen at once.

The USPTO awarded Apple the patent only four short months after Apple’s initial filing in March. Apple created the patent in order to better utilize the small screen real estate available on mobile devices.

As portable electronic devices become more compact, and the number of functions performed by a given device increase, it has become a significant challenge to design a user interface that allows users to easily interact with a multifunction device. This challenge is particular significant for handheld portable devices, which have much smaller screens than desktop or laptop computers. — Apple

The potential legal fallout from this new patent is substantial considering a court recently awarded Apple an injunction against the Galaxy Nexus for its search function. Nearly every touch-based smartphone utilizes the scroll bars covered in the patent.

The USPTO just added a thermonuclear legal bomb to Apple’s arsenal.

Source: Apple Insider

[Anonymous]

this shall start a war

[dennder]

(apple lawyers) - Yo, why not try to patent scroll-bars, eh? We tend to patent anything nowadays, why not try this just out of curiosity?
(U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) - Granted.
(apple lawyers) - O_o!!!!
...

[Silverado1987]

So basically this means every smartphone has to make their own scrollbar or not use one at all?

[brodimus]

I'm gonna patent being granted stupid patents. Apple's gonna be paying me soon.

[Bigred4430]

(apple lawyers) - Yo, why not try to patent scroll-bars, eh? We tend to patent anything nowadays, why not try this just out of curiosity?
(U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) - Granted.
(apple lawyers) - O_o!!!!
...

Hahahahahahaha

[crouching]

Wow Facebook has the exact same style disappearing scroll bar.

[Ambi_Valence]

It's not all scroll bars. It's the transparent and disappearing ones.
Still ridiculous but not as broad as first thought.

[mortopher]

ridiculous

[Mrteacup]

So basically this means every smartphone has to make their own scrollbar or not use one at all?

Pretty much none of them are using the ones apple is..

Btw you guys think that they just started filing for patents? Most patents take years for big companies to receive. And unless youre a lawyer or understand patents don't say that this will let apple sue anyone with scroll bars because it's specific scroll bars

[fadadman]

(apple lawyers) - Yo, why not try to patent scroll-bars, eh? We tend to patent anything nowadays, why not try this just out of curiosity?
(U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) - Granted.
(apple lawyers) - O_o!!!!
...

This is crazy indeed °o° the above says it all

[feidhlim1986]

Someone high up at the U.S. Patents office has shares in Apple or is being paid off by Apple or both.

[thazsar]

I'm gonna patent being granted stupid patents. Apple's gonna be paying me soon.

I want in in that patent! LOL!!!

[unison999]

Samsung & HTC, you guys might want to consider challenging this patent before you guys gets sued.

[tongxinshe]

Wow, look at the comments above, a very high percentage of people speak (write comments) before carefully listening (reading).

[dsg]

patents are just tools for lawsuits they shouldn't be taken seriously anymore, the whole patent system is an epic fail

[crackertime]

I feel like we should start looking for much older patents to buy, with vague wording. Like maybe a patent for a type of handheld whisk, which in its filing mentions 'any implement to be manipulated by the hand' or something along those lines. The holy grail of course being the first patent on picking up a rock, in cave man times. The irony is the patent was carved into the cave wall with that very same rock.

[lkailburn]

Patent the telephone. Anything that makes a phone call.

Ridiculous bs.

-Luke

[JedixJarf]

(apple lawyers) - Yo, why not try to patent scroll-bars, eh? We tend to patent anything nowadays, why not try this just out of curiosity?
(U.S. Patent and Trademark Office) - Granted.
(apple lawyers) - O_o!!!!
...

lollerskates.

[Anonymous]

Someone high up at the U.S. Patents office has shares in Apple or is being paid off by Apple or both.

Or they have an iPhone.