Apple’s “pinch-to-zoom” patent to be reviewed in the USA

According to a preliminary ruling by the U.S Patent and Trademark Office, Apple’s “pinch-to-zoom” patent should have not been awarded in the first place, although as of now the patent is still valid. The patent office said that it will be reviewing the patent again.

“Pinch-to-zoom” was one of the six patents that was used in the lawsuit that Apple filed against Samsung. Apple formally refers this as “Application programming interfaces for scrolling operations.”

Apple also claimed that there a total of 21 specific methods that one can do with pinch-to-zoom but they were rejected by the patent office because the U.S. Patent already granted this to previous applicants- which wasn’t discovered until November 2010.

The aftermath of this would most likely help Samsung to reduce the $1.05 billion damages payment it has to make to Apple. Apple on the other hand wants the amount to be increased – no surprises there.

Source: BBC