Case: Patents/Obviousness (P.T.A.B.)

Some challenged claims of Smith Interface Technologies LLC’s patent that describes electronic devices with touch-sensitive surfaces are unpatentable as obvious over prior art, the Patent Trial and Appeal Board said, in an inter partes review by Apple Inc. The board determined that some claims are obvious over prior art that discloses an electronic device with a touch-sensitive surface, that describes that in computing device with a small screen different user functions in different applications may be available to a user, and that discloses applying touch thresholds to certain monitored parameters of the user’s contact with the touch screen of a ...