Apple’s scroll technology patents ruled invalid

US Patent and Trademark Office has ruled that 20 patents relating to scroll technology ‘are invalid’, the BBC reports.

London: US authorities have said that one of the smartphone patents at the center of the legal dispute between Apple and Samsung Electronics, which awarded huge damages to the US-based iPhone maker, ‘lacked novelty’.

In August a California court awarded Apple 1.05 billion dollars in damages, after ruling Samsung had infringed patents.

But the US Patent and Trademark Office has ruled that 20 patents relating to scroll technology ‘are invalid’, the BBC reports.

The so-called rubber-banding patents, also known as overscroll bounce, refer to the bouncing animation that takes place when a user scrolls past the end of a page.

According to the report, Samsung has submitted the preliminary ruling from the patent office to Judge Lucy Koh, who is considering appeals.

The preliminary ruling follows an anonymous request in May to re-examine some of Apple`s patents for touch-screen heuristics.

Some of the patents were rejected because there was not enough of an inventive step between the prior technology and Apple`s patent.

Apple will have the chance to appeal against the decision, the report said.

ANI

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