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Apple plagiarizing others' work in patent diagrams?

updated 01:45 pm EDT, Fri August 6, 2010

2009 document depicts existing iPhone app


Apple effectively stole the look of a third-party iPhone app for one of its own patents, claims one of the app's developers, Ortwin Gentz. Gentz belongs to FutureTap, the company which bought Where To? from original creators tap tap tap. The app uses GPS technology to find nearby points of interest, and was once considered a flagship of the App Store, having helped to launch it in July 2008.

An Apple patent application filed in December 2009, however, uses a diagram nearly identical to Where To's homescreen, complete with the same interface wheel, bottom menu tabs and even the "Where To?" text. While the proposed patent talks about an iPhone app with general travel functions, such as booking and social networking, Gentz worries that it is now faced with the prospect of its main business partner stealing ideas.

"I’m not a lawyer. I can’t really judge whether the inclusion of a 1:1 copy of our start screen in someone else's patent is legal," says Gentz. "I just have to say, it doesn’t feel right...The perspective of an endless legal battle, however, is not very intriguing for a small company like us that aims to throw all its power into improving existing and developing new apps. So we definitely hope there’ll be an easy solution. Perhaps it’s just a flaw in the filing that can be fixed easily."

FutureTap has reportedly sent inquiries to Apple, and only brought the issue public because Apple has not responded after several days.






by MacNN Staff

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patents, developer, iPhone apps, Apple

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  1. Roehlstation

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Aug 2001

    +1
    08/06, 02:05pm | report spam | Reply |

    comment title

    *facepalm*

    Time for Steve to reign in some of his "Creative" people.

    Comment buried. Show
  1. wrenchy

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2009

    -13
    08/06, 02:13pm | report spam | Reply |

    Apple has been stealing for decades.


    If someone claims royalties for their hard earned work, Apple plays hard ball, preferring to take their chances in court hoping you don't have the funds to compete with them in the long run. Most don't, so Apple gets away with stealing on a regular basis.

  1. MacScientist

    Junior Member

    Joined: Feb 2000

    -4
    08/06, 02:49pm | report spam | (1 reply) Reply |

    I'm having trouble understanding ...

    ... the complaint.

    Patent applications are not products. Patent application drawings rarely bare more than a passing similarity to the commercial products that they relate to. The "infringed" product is a currently available for sale in the iTunes App Store. If history is a guide, then the "infringing" product will bare little resemblance to the patent application drawing.

    I do find it interesting that neither ipodnn.com nor Ortwin Gentz's blog provides a link to the actual patent application. As for the "infringed" product, Where To?, it seems to provide no unique information. For example, the yelp and YellowPages.com's YPmobile apps provide similar information. The unique thing about Where To? is its UI.

    What is it exactly that Apple is trying to patent?

  1. tsmelker

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2006

    +6
    08/06, 02:52pm | report spam | Reply |

    Wait- what's the patent for?

    I think it's a little premature to call it 'patent infringement' until you know what the patent is for; I doubt that Apple would be so blatant as to steal the app's look just to have their own identical app. What they'd more likely do is buy the app's company- as in the case of Cover Flow, which was a plug-in for iTunes until Apple bought them up and spread it all over their OS. The patent is more likely to illustrate a certain concept that "Where To" utilized so well in their GUI design.

    Wrenchy, perhaps you should not make blanket statements about Apple stealing 'for decades' until you've been around long enough as they have to see it firsthand...

  1. bdmarsh

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Feb 2006

    +10
    08/06, 03:14pm | report spam | Reply |

    the patent isn't related to the UI

    the patent is for underlying technologies, not for the apps that use it. (and there are multiple app UIs shown in the patent application)

    this has been covered in the comments at almost every place that posted an incomplete story like this one.

    look through other patents for parts or devices that work with existing things like cars, and you'll see major brand cars shown using such a part or device without issue.

  1. RonC

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jan 2009

    -5
    08/06, 04:11pm | report spam | Reply |

    Show me the details

    Show me a patent application that has a priority date. Then show me the date of first publication of the iPhone application that has the same image - this includes disclosure to Apple for consideration to the iPhone store. Compare dates.

    If the Apple patent priority date is first, then they could claim the app author stole their IPR. Similarly, the absolute worst that can happen to Apple here is that they get a patent for this application and when they try to enforce it on someone, the claims may be invalidated based on this known prior art.

    There could be willful misconduct by Apple, which could also be painful.

    Not to mention the PR problem.

    Of course, this all depends on the details. None of which are here.

  1. jgren

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Dec 2005

    -1
    08/06, 04:28pm | report spam | Reply |

    Other apps have this look

    MotionX GPS has a very similar UI, the patent is for the tech behind the scenes not the interface structure.

  1. dronkert

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Jun 2007

    -1
    08/06, 05:02pm | report spam | Reply |

    The bicycle in that recent patent is a Cervélo

    says a surprised Cervélo owner Gerard Vroomen: http://twitter.com/gerardvroomen/status/20450088947

  1. LouZer

    Fresh-Faced Recruit

    Joined: Nov 2000

    -1
    08/07, 11:12am | report spam | Reply |

    not the point

    His concerns are over Apple using his UI in a patent application. This, he fears, will lead either Apple to basically steal his UI (and it isn't like they haven't done that before - Delicious Library, Konfabulator, Watson, etc), or, just as bad, have people in the future on boards like this claim he stole Apple's idea because Apple has a patent showing it...

  1. facebook_Gena

    Via Facebook

    Joined: Aug 2010

    0
    08/24, 07:42pm | report spam | Reply |

    interesting

    This is an interesting potential patent enforcement case. It's undeniable that Apple's diagram looks almost exactly like the Where To homescreen, so much so that it would be implausible to think that one did not copy the other. Maybe this is how Apple gets so many of its great ideas. In any case, I'm not sure about the legal issues here; it will be interesting to follow this and see whether or not FutureTap can actually file a patent infringement suit.
    http://www.generalpatent.com/media/videos/general-patent-gets-results-its-clients

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