Apple awarded broad patent on touch screen

Apple Inc. has been awarded a long sought-after patent for touch screen functionality on portable devices, a set of exclusive rights expected to play into its current litigation against its counterparts in the mobile device market, U.S. media reported on Wednesday. "A computer-implemented method, for use in conjunction with a portable multifunction device with a touch screen display, comprises displaying a portion of page content, including a frame displaying a portion of frame content and also including other content of the page, on the touch screen display," the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office patent abstract reads. Apple filed for the patent in December, 2007. Apple's patent essentially gives it ownership of the capacitive multitouch interface the company pioneered with its iPhone, on- line computer magazine PCMag quoted a source who has been involved in intellectual property litigation on similar matters as saying. The latest patent could produce a new round of lawsuits over the now-ubiquitous multitouch interfaces used in smartphones made by the likes of HTC, Samsung, Motorola, Research in Motion, Nokia, and others that run operating systems similar in nature to Apple's iOS, like Google's Android, said the patent expert. Apple has not immediately responded to request for comment on whether it will use the latest patent against competitors. Apple is currently involved in several patent-related battles with other companies. Nokia sued Apple in October 2009 for allegedly infringing patents the Finnish phone maker owns related to wireless handsets. Apple countersued Nokia in December 2009, accusing Nokia of infringing 13 Apple patents related to the iPhone. Nokia lodged a complaint later with the U.S. International Trade Commission, charging Apple of infringing seven Nokia patents "in virtually all of its mobile phones, portable music players and computers." Last Monday, Nokia said Apple had agreed to pay the Finnish company a license fee to settle all patent litigation between the two. Industry watchers said Nokia is likely to get around 608 million U.S. dollars from Apple. This April, Apple filed a lawsuit against Samsung, alleging that the Korean consumer electronics company has violated Apple's intellectual property in the design of its mobile devices, such as iPhone and iPad. Samsung later sued Apple separately in Asia, Europe and the United States, accusing Apple of infringing Samsung's 10 patents related to mobile phones.