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Authored by: Anonymous on Monday, October 22 2012 @ 11:03 PM EDT |
Actually, multitouch screen technology is a very specific
physical implementation of using the capacitance of human
touch to allow multiple points to be captured at a time.
Most early touchscreens (including most pre-iphone
smartphones) could only handle one touch in one place -
they'd get confused if you touched multiple places. There
is a very specific implementation behind it (and, AFAIK, the
only one that works). Of all the tech in the iPhone, it's
probably conceptually the most patent worthy - it's a
breakthrough in human interaction with a touchscreen (and,
again, Apple doesn't own it - they license it from the
inventor).
And yes, to a large extent, an inventor can choose WHETHER
to license their invention - they're under no obligation to
do so. They can license exclusively to one person if they
want and shut everyone else out. They can license to 2
companies and deny a third. A patent is by definition a
grant of monopoly - the patent holder controls the market.
Which includes the ability to exclude others from the
market, even if it's purely to spite a competitor.
I'm not honestly sure if that extends so far as to be able
to be overtly racist in your licensing, but that's a crazy
and extreme example well beyond the scope of this
discussion. [ Reply to This | Parent | # ]
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