Apple's rubber banding patent now valid again

Back in October, the USPTO pulled the patent it had awarded Apple for the "Over Scroll Bounce" also known in certain high society circles as the "Rubber-Banding" patent. It was one of the Intellectual Property holdings in the Cupertino based tech firm's patent portfolio, and was used by Apple against Samsung during the pair's legendary patent battle last year. The actual name of the patent is the "List scrolling and document translation, scaling, and rotation on a touch-screen display," and no, you won't be quizzed on it.

What makes this patent newsworthy again is the decision by the chaps at the USPTO to issue Apple a reexamination certificate related to patent U.S. Patent No. 7,469,381, the "rubber-banding" patent. This includes claim 19, the one used by Apple successfully in the suit last year against Samsung. This is the second reexamination certificate involving claim 19 with the first one dating back to 2011.

Apple informed Judge Lucy Koh about the USPTO decision as she will be once again presiding over the next Apple-Samsung patent trial set for 2014. The judge herself is no stranger to this patent. During last year's trial, she refused Samsung's request to make the "rubber-banding" patent invalid even though the jury did not make that ruling. In late 2011, Koh ruled during a preliminary injunction hearing that the patent was likely to be found valid.

The next Apple-Samsung patent trial is due to begin in March of 2014.


source: FOSSPatents via TechRadar