Just as Apple started to threaten Palm’s ability to sell Pre for intellectual property infringements, the United States Patent and Trademark Office granted Apple a patent on multi-touch technology. The question on everyone’s lips now is how will Palm handle the challenge now?

 

Last week, Apple chief exec Tom Cook said competition is good, but they will not stand to have (their) IP ripped off. He did not mention any name in particular, but that was clearly one way of saying they welcome all competition, except Palm Pre, which is said to be THE competitor to match the iPhone.

 

Palm responded at the time that the company is confident in defending themselves in case of a legal action, especially considering that the multi-touch technology has been around since 1982.

 

Regarding this matter, Apple may be the proud owner of a patent, but the questions are how much does this patent really cover of the multi-touch technology, and does it slim down Palm’s chances to make a point in court?

 

The patent refers to touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics and includes detecting one or more finger contacts with the touch screen display, applying one or more heuristics to the one or more finger contacts to determine a command for the device, and processing the command.

 

The heuristics refer to a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a one-dimensional vertical screen scrolling command, a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a two-dimensional screen translation command, and a heuristic for determining that the one or more finger contacts correspond to a command to transition from displaying a respective item in a set of items to displaying a next item in a set of items.

 

Considering all this, it is hard to believe that Apple won’t be able to make a point in court, but at the same time, the Cupertino-based company might not be able to “touch” Palm’s Pre.