[OSGeo-Discuss] About "Interactive Map" patent application by Apple Inc.

[Arnie Shore]

Ummmm, re " ... touch two points to display a route ...", do excuse me
while I apply re an invention that's twice as good:  Like touch only
ONE point for directions!

>From some experience some years back, I can say that the receipt of a
Cease and Desist Letter can have a deeply chilling effect without the
support of a group like this.

AS

On 12/21/13, Brent Wood <pcreso at pcreso.com> wrote:
>
>
>
>
> Click on two points to display a route, touch two points to display a route
> - this is natural progression from mouse based hardware to touch screen
> mode. There should not be any patent there, it is just a generic change in
> pointing device.
>
> Numerous web apps (& mapping portals) dim the background for popups & other
> "foreground" info - hopefully nothing new or patentable there.
>
> My concern is not this has been applied for, but that someone presumeably
> believes such minor adaptations are patentable under US law.
>
> Hopefully not - coming from a country which recently legislated software as
> not patentable.
>
>
>
> Shock, horror - could OSGEO join with ESRI to contest this? A comparable
> case a few years ago in New Zealand created a very unusual set of bedfellows
> - who successfully contested the patent, at a cost substantially cheaper
> than pursuing individual cases against it. See:
> http://www.nzherald.co.nz/technology/news/article.cfm?c_id=5&objectid=3576578
>
> Cheers,
>
>   Brent Wood