[Opinion] 蘋果獲得終極智能手機觸控界面專利??

那天看到幾則新聞報導，讓我著實嚇了一跳：

颤抖吧Android！苹果获得终极智能手机触控界面专利_Apple - cnBeta

觸控操作、圖形使用介面變成Apple 新專利，終極武器來了？ | T客邦 ...

蘋果獲得終極智能手機觸控界面專利- 科技- 汽車&世界——海外華人 ...

苹果获得终极智能手机触控界面专利-搜狐数码

震撼!苹果获得终极智能手机触控界面专利- 第一应用

安卓惨了，苹果获得终极智能手机触控界面专－ 国际电子商情论坛

我想，該不會是Apple有了甚麼前瞻性、突破性的大發明了吧!?
點進去看了一下，大失所望。
原來又是"標題殺人法"



依我的觀點：

Apple新獲准(2012/7/17獲准)的這件專利“Portable electronic device, method, and graphical user interface for displaying electronic lists and documents” (專利號：US 8,223,134)，實際上是2008/1/4所提出之8,130,205專利案之延續案(Continuation of application)。為的是補主張先前所沒claim到的技術特徵。
此外，這篇專利還主張了一堆美國臨時案，其最早可以追朔到2007/1/7。



8223134 這篇專利雖然內容非常多，整份長達108頁涵蓋各種實施態樣(大部分的頁數應該是Apple的"灌水性專利通用頁面")，但審查過程中，經過了兩次核駁，也被要求限縮範圍。目前claim中剩下的保護重點，僅僅在於： “圖像側邊的垂直軸圖像”

如上圖所示，垂直軸圖像的長度，可隨著表單超出螢幕部分的長度而改變。垂直軸圖像只是用來展示比例，而並非供使用者按壓捲動。當表單超出螢幕的部分增長時，垂直軸圖像隨之縮小。以便於呈現目前閱覽部分占表單整體的比例。
說明書中相關敘述包括：

In some embodiments, vertical bar 516 is displayed temporarily after an
object is detected on or near the touch screen display (e.g., a finger touch
is detected anywhere on the list of instant message conversations). In some
embodiments, the vertical bar 516 has a vertical position on top of the
displayed portion of the list that corresponds to the vertical position in
the list of the displayed portion of the list. In some embodiments, the
vertical bar 516 has a vertical length that corresponds to the portion of
the list being displayed. In some embodiments, if the entire list of IM
conversations can be displayed simultaneously on the touch screen 112, the
vertical bar 516 is not displayed. In some embodiments, if the entire list
of IM conversations can be displayed simultaneously on the touch screen 112,
the vertical bar 516 is displayed with a length that corresponds to the
length of the list display area (e.g., as shown in FIG. 5).

或

In some embodiments, vertical bar 630 is displayed temporarily after an
object is detected on or near the touch screen display (e.g., a finger touch
is detected anywhere on the list of instant messages). In some embodiments,
the vertical bar 630 has a vertical position on top of the displayed portion
of the list that corresponds to the vertical position in the list of the
displayed portion of the list. In some embodiments, the vertical bar 630 has
a vertical length that corresponds to the portion of the list being
displayed. For example, in FIG. 6A, the vertical position of the vertical
bar 630 indicates that the bottom of the list of messages is being displayed
(which correspond to the most recent messages) and the vertical length of
the vertical bar 630 indicates that roughly half of the messages in the
conversation are being displayed.




主要申請專利範圍為：

1. A method, comprising: at a portable multifunction device with a
touch screen display: displaying a portion of an electronic document on the
touch screen display, wherein the displayed portion of the electronic
document has a vertical position in the electronic document; displaying a
vertical bar on top of the displayed portion of the electronic document, the
vertical bar displayed proximate to a vertical edge of the displayed portion
of the electronic document, wherein: the vertical bar has a vertical
position on top of the displayed portion of the electronic document that
corresponds to the vertical position in the electronic document of the
displayed portion of the electronic document; and the vertical bar is not a
scroll bar; detecting a movement of an object in a direction on the
displayed portion of the electronic document; in response to detecting the
movement: scrolling the electronic document displayed on the touch screen
display in the direction of movement of the object so that a new portion of
the electronic document is displayed, moving the vertical bar to a new
vertical position such that the new vertical position corresponds to the
vertical position in the electronic document of the displayed new portion of
the electronic document, and maintaining the vertical bar proximate to the
vertical edge of the displayed portion of the electronic document; and in
response to a predetermined condition being met, ceasing to display the
vertical bar while continuing to display the displayed portion of the
electronic document, wherein the displayed portion of the electronic
document has a vertical extent that is less than a vertical extent of the
electronic document.



上面的Claim中，限制性敘述" and the vertical bar is not a scroll bar"是在審查過程中，為了避開審查委員所引用的前案而做的限縮。其強調了vertical bar並不是用來捲動的，以與其他前案中可捲動的方式相區隔。
然而，這樣的限縮，也同時造成禁反言的效果。
也就是說，日後，Apple欲對競爭對手主張這篇專利時，得先看看對手產品上的vertical bar，是不是scroll bar？ 如果對手產品上的是具有捲動功能的bar，那麼，就不容易符合全要件原則而落入其專利範圍了。



由上述可知，實際上這件專利所能涵蓋的範圍非常有限，充其量包括“各種用來展示比例的軸圖像”，加上由於其在答辯時，已將範圍限死在於"不提供捲動功能"，因此主張上相對不易，並非像媒體所聲稱般的具有強大威力。就迴避面上，應該是不難，只要使用最傳統的“固定長度式卷軸”，即可迴避。而這也不算是新技術，早在Iphone 3GS產品上，就已看得到這樣特徵。



在資訊爆炸的時代中，"收集並判斷資訊"是非常重要的。尤其現在專利戰爭火熱發展，每天都有熱烘烘強強滾的專利新聞、分析報導。有的是添油加醋、爆炸聳動，語不驚人死不休。讓讀者邊讀邊罵，而且還是咬著牙的罵。
----這樣的報導，將陷公眾於無知之中。

身為讀者的我們，在獲取這類資訊了之後，最重要的是求真、求實，與其盡信，不如不信。

一但對於專利的內涵有了深一層的了解之後，你將可以發現：
專利，其實非常簡單，但又不那麼簡單。