Apple’s ‘rubber banding’ provisional patent declared invalid

A setback for Apple on the day that the iPad mini is expected to be introduced, the USPTO has the patent on rubber-banding is temporarily invalidated. The patent was one of the pillars in the newly won lawsuit against Samsung.

“In a non-final Office action the USPTO has declared all 20 claims of Apple’s rubber-banding patent (U.S. Patent No, 7,469,381 invalid, including claim 19, which Apple successfully asserted against Samsung in the summer trial in California. In fact, claim 19 is one of several claims to be deemed invalid for two reasons, either one of which would be sufficient on its own.”

Precisely because Samsung Galaxy dozens of products violating this patent was awarded damages of $ 1 billion. Now the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this provisional patent invalid state claim into question. Reason for the invalidation is that the idea is not innovative enough and a similar description already existed in the archives of the USPTO before Apple’s request. Apple can still appeal against this, but only if it can demonstrate that the rubber-banding principle is innovative enough and sufficiently different from existing patents.

Samsung has the ruling of the USPTO now been presented to the judge who handled the appeal. It seems increasingly difficult for Apple to make this legal battle with, mainly Android products, to win as even the most basic patents are invalidated. There seems nothing to sit than go back to the drawing board and again with something totally new and innovative to come.