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Apple Sued for Touchscreen Devices

News Article - Tuesday, 24 April 2012 12:09

By: Kerry Butters Category: Connectivity

A US professor is suing Apple claiming that their touchscreen products infringe on a patent he filed in 2005. Slacoljub Milekic claims that he first invented the technology as a testing tool for kids to be able to manipulate images directly on screen in 1997.

Milekic is a professor in cognitive sciences and digital design at the University of Arts, Pennsylvania, USA and says that he created the tool for the Speed Art Museum in Louisville, Kentucky and was later issued with patent #6,920,619.

The patent describes how the image manipulation works by "dragging" the selected image by moving the finger touching the image across the screen and "dropping" the image by lifting a finger from it, moving a selected image by touching another location on the screen and thereby causing the selected image to move to the touched location”.

It goes on to say that an image can be removed from the screen by "throwing it” and modified by "image by tapping it twice and then moving the finger in a horizontal or vertical direction on the screen".

Milekic developed two touchscreen devices of his own though a company he set up in 2007, Flatworld Interactives. He believes that the patents inclusion of activating buttons on screen and the use of gestures give him a case against Apple. The company said that they advised Apple of the patent’s existence back in 2007 following the launch of the iPhone; but it seems Apple didn’t feel the need to reply.

The company then made some alterations to the patent before filing their claim in the Northern District California court. It’s thought that if Apple settle or Milekic win the case then it will pave the way for a slew of lawsuits aimed at all touchscreen manufacturers.

• Apple
• Touchscreen

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