Apple is currently embroiled in their fair share of patent suits worldwide, that some of us out there might think that as a corporation, they are nothing but heartless executives who weigh down their potential competitors with heavy law tomes. Perhaps this bit of news might help you change your mind – it seems that Apple is already licensing one of their patents, where it is described as list scrolling and document manipulation on a touchscreen display. Patent #7,469,381, is known as “List Scrolling and Document Translation, Scaling, and Rotation on a Touch-Screen Display” which Apple has already licensed it to IBM and Nokia.
This patent is best described as the iOS scrolling function which shows off a background texture whenever you scroll past the end of a document or website. Of course, not all is peaches and cream with this patent, since it is being disputed even right now in the courtroom with South Korean conglomerate Samsung. Apple did offer to license this patent to Samsung in November last year, but it seems as though Samsung did not bite, and HTC as well as Nokia too, have been sued where this particular patent is concerned. So much for going “thermonuclear war” on their rivals, Apple does have a heart if you look through the right lenses.