No, we’re not talking about a fun day at the park with tea and scones , more along the lines of millions in compensation to EMG Technology. EMG are seeking damages for for patent infringement over for “the way the iPhone navigates the Internet,” according information circulating. An interesting point to spring out of this is that EMG hasn’t put a figure on the overall amount they want from the lawsuit - a case of ’suck it and see’! Something that may perk the interest of American readers is the engagement of attorney Stanley Gibson, who won the $1.35 billion patent infringement lawsuit against Medtronic.

The patent in question covers the way web pages are reformatted onto TV’s and mobile devices which means that, if EMG win against Apple the floodgates will open for actions against just about every vendor of mobile browser! One of the most important aspects of this patent centres around the way in which touch screen devices manipulate data using and is covered by the patent “Apparatus and method of manipulating a region on a wireless device screen for viewing, zooming and scrolling internet content.” The patent was originally filed on 13th March 2006 which means any parties that may have infringed on it have had plenty of time to do their research.

Before G1 fans sit back and chuckle to themselves, be aware - this patent could be aimed at Android if the case against Apple is successful. At that point we’d see how committed Google really are when it comes to the Android OS.

I know patents are put in place to protect companies and inventions but I’d like to see a system that grants patents based on a working model rather than an idea someone whilst they ‘were sat on the toilet’!

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