Apple’s Rubber-Band Snaps Back into Samsung’s Eye

The US Patent and Trademark Office has reinstated Apple’s famous so-called rubber-banding patent (US No. 7,469,381) and confirmed four claims, including claim 19 that Apple asserted last summer in the California trial that initially led a jury to dun Samsung $1.05 billion in damages. Samsung presumably made the anonymous request that the patent be re-examined and the PTO last October threw the whole patent out. Then the agency changed its mind and disallowed all but three claims, including the crucial claim 19. Now it’s changed its mind again and upheld another four claims including claim 19. Apparently the prior art the PTO was using to invalidate wasn’t good enough.

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