Apple's Pinch to zoom patent invalidated

U.S. Invalidates Apple's 'Pinch-To-Zoom' Patent For Touchscreen Devices - Business Insider

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has invalidated Apple's iconic "pinch-to-zoom" patent.

Samsung discovered that the patent was invalidated after going over Apple's records in the ongoing legal battle between the two companies.

Samsung wants to use this latest evidence to justify its demand for a new trial because "Pinch-to-zoom" was one of the Apple patents a jury found Samsung guilty of infringing.

Apple won the initial ruling against Samsung. If the ruling stands, Samsung will have to pay Apple a little more than $1 billion.

According to documents filed by Samsung in the United States District Court for the Northern District of California on Sunday, Apple's Patent No. 7,844,915, which covers the two-finger pinch-to-zoom gesture, was found wanting by the USPTO due to it being anticipated by other patents and declared otherwise non-patentable, much like its "overscroll bounce" claim. Apple has up to two months to dispute the decision.

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And the drama continues.

Bad news for the inventors of the rectangle...