# What happened to Apple's iPhone patents? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 8, 2011, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-apples-iphone-patents/581142 "2011-05-08T06:50:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![jackdavinci](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackdavinci/32/3259_2.png) [@jackdavinci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jackdavinci)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-apples-iphone-patents/581142/1 "2011-05-08T06:50:52Z")
I seem to remember when the iPhone first came out, Jobs had a big Apple event and everyone oohed and ahhed. Jobs made a big point; that beyond the awesomeness of the iPhone to be excited about for fanboys, there was also manna for shareholders. Unlike the previous era of grievous lack of bothering with patents, and the inevitable consequences of other companies cloning Apple’s precious DNA, now, finally, they have learned their lessons, and created the almighty PATENTS. Lo and behold, THIS TIME, there shall be only one. Fast forward only a few years ahead (and long long before any patent would expire), and every smartphone in existence is a clone of the iPhone. So what happened to all these supposed patents? ---
**Author:** ![engineer\_comp\_geek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/engineer_comp_geek/32/504_2.png) [@engineer\_comp\_geek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/engineer_comp_geek)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 7:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-apples-iphone-patents/581142/2 "2011-05-08T07:04:27Z")
There are a bunch of lawsuits that are currently in process related to those patents. Apple just filed another one last month against Samsung, who has also filed a counter-suit against Apple. You may find this article interesting: [http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9216223/Smartphone\_patent\_fight\_World\_War\_III\_?taxonomyId=75](http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9216223/Smartphone_patent_fight_World_War_III_?taxonomyId=75) ETA: One quote from this article: > [@](#): > > After more than 40 lawsuits, there’s no sign of a letup in smartphone litigiousness, leaving patent experts divided over whether the epic phone fights are a sign of a healthy free market or a serious deterrent to future innovators. ---
**Author:** ![Knorf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/58956e/32.png) [@Knorf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Knorf)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-apples-iphone-patents/581142/3 "2011-05-08T08:33:29Z")
As if Apple has never cloned anyone else’s ideas … \>SCOFF\< ---
**Author:** ![chromaticity](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/cc9497/32.png) [@chromaticity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chromaticity)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 10:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-apples-iphone-patents/581142/4 "2011-05-08T22:25:52Z")
Some of Apple’s patents are full of crap and basically [too broad](http://www.bgr.com/2011/03/01/apple-microsoft-continue-battle-over-app-store-trademark/#utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+TheBoyGeniusReport+%28BGR+%7C+Boy+Genius+Report%29) to be enforceable. Some of them are valid though and other reputable companies license them. Not the chinese knock-off manufacturers of course. If I remember multi-touch was one such patent, but I could be mistaken as I stopped following that story ages back. The mobile phone industry seems to spend a lot of time suing each other these days. Check out this somewhat old chart showing [who is suing whom](http://mobilesyrup.com/2010/10/06/image-whos-suing-who-over-mobile-patents/), it looks like a lawyer feeding frenzy. ---
**Author:** ![Derleth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Derleth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Derleth)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 10:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-apples-iphone-patents/581142/5 "2011-05-08T22:58:34Z")
> [@Knorf](#): > > As if Apple has never cloned anyone else’s ideas … > \>SCOFF\< Hey, Apple paid full value for the ideas they stole from Xerox! ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [May 8, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-apples-iphone-patents/581142/6 "2011-05-08T23:20:50Z")
There are also plenty of patentable things in a phone that aren’t apparent to the end user. Just because the phones all _look_ like clones of the iPhone doesn’t mean that they actually _are_, under the surface. ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [May 9, 2011, 11:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-apples-iphone-patents/581142/7 "2011-05-09T11:56:35Z")
> [@jackdavinci](#): > > I seem to remember when the iPhone first came out, Jobs had a big Apple event and everyone oohed and ahhed. Jobs made a big point; that beyond the awesomeness of the iPhone to be excited about for fanboys, there was also manna for shareholders. Also, it’s not like the stock _hasn’t_ shot through the roof in the last several years. Since 2006 it’s gone from well below 100 to around 350/share.