Now that Apple has been awarded the patent on their multi-touch technologies, a sizable chunk of the internet news community is trying to sort through what this means for the smartphone market and immediately upcoming devices.  The focus of much attention is, of course, the Palm Pre. A debate is brewing between advocates for both Palm and Apple over which company is in the right. Apple’s recently awarded patent covering their use of multi-touch gestures on a touchscreen may even make it difficult for Palm to get the Pre to the market in a reasonable amount of time.  Why?  According to the awarded patent, Apple’s intellectual property (IP) now includes the possibility to design a touch-sensitive area that extends beneath the LCD, allowing for other finger gestures and controls.  Sound familiar?

*DING DING DING*   IN THIS CORNER, WEIGHING IN AT 133 GRAMS AND STANDING 115.5 MM TALL…

…Yes, yes, we know. The Apple iPhone. As an iPhone user, this author will be the…well…millionth or so to admit that it changed the mobile phone game forever. It changed the way people interact with their friends, family, calendar, media, and other life data, merging them into one device. And it was done well. Freshly armed with this month’s patent discoveries, it would seem the iPhone is also untouchable. However, Engadget has done a little research over what these patents truly mean, and whether or not the Palm Pre would infringe on them if it shipped today, as it was demonstrated at the press release.

First, the core of Apple’s touted Multi-Touch patent is based on one (relatively) simple ability: sense an initial scrolling mode – 1D, horizontal OR vertical and 2D, panning horizontal/vertical – and locking into that mode until the finger-touch is released from the screen. This is easier seen in a video demo at the above-linked Engadget story. As it stands (and is seen in the press demo), the Palm Pre appears to also have this same ability, which would technically infringe on Apple’s new patent. However, it would be interesting to see if Palm allows Pre to ship with this ability enabled, or if it will preempt a possible Apple legal attack by disabling it before launch. Another option for Palm would be to have webOS simply ALWAYS be in a 2D “panning” scroll mode, thus skipping over Apple’s patented scroll-lock altogether.

Palm may have a little more to be cautious around with Apple’s second patent, a pretty famous behavior known as “bounce-back.” Anyone who has used an iPhone has seen it by scrolling to the edge of a document, the edge is revealed, and the document “bounces” back onto the screen with the edge out-of-sight. Again, see the link above for a video demo of this behavior. If webOS was a shipping product, Apple would easily have some legal ground here, as the press-release demo of Pre obviously showed this bounce-back behavior in many of the OS’ screens.

AND IN THIS CORNER, WEIGHING IN AT 135 GRAMS AND STANDING AT VARIABLE HEIGHTS…

…Possibly the iPhone’s closest competitor yet, the Pre. We’ve gone over what Palm may have to dance around to get this little gem to the market, but does Palm have any recourse? It would appear so…

There are a few features, all touted by Steve Jobs during the iPhone’s announcement 2 years ago, that would appear to be patented by Palm. One of the most useful, though often-overlooked, is the ambient light sensor paired with auto-brightness adjustments. So, when you take your iPhone into a dark room and the display slightly dims to avoid hurting your eyes, thank Palm patent #7,268,775.

The iPhone interface is beautiful, there’s no doubt. Even the way it gracefully manages multiple calls at once is pretty and impressive, all on one screen. It’s almost as if, wait, it HAS been patented before! Thanks, Palm! (#7,296,107)

It’s pretty apparent that this bout has the ammunition to go a full 10-rounder. Neither Apple nor Palm want to be seen as the bad guy, and both companies are prepared to defend any IP that they feel has been infringed upon. The question is will we see a long, drawn-out legal battle, or will they simply resolve into a live-and-let-live world where both phones can exist? While the IP law here is much deeper than this article could ever examine, it can’t be ignored that if Palm were targeted by Apple’s patent lawyers, would they retaliate? Would Palm defend the patents that they hold on technologies Apple has profited and been heralded on for almost 2 years?

We may need to see more information on the Palm Pre to judge which company can/will throw the first punch, and if it will be before or after the Pre ships.

Disclaimer: no legal advise is given or portrayed by this article. its author is not a lawyer, nor are anyone involved in its editing or publishing.