The primary problem with your argument is that (hypothetically) there were not shaved ice scoops (double the size) similar to the ice cream scoop you own previous to the invention you cite.
Inversely, there were inventions (Microsoft Surface, Jeff Han's touchscreen) previous to iPhone that had multi-touch capability and exploited much of the same ideas. They just weren't phones. The obviousness is that creating a smaller form factor and putting some phone capabilities in it were no-brainers for this tech _eventually_ since the technology did exist.
The primary problem with your argument is that (hypothetically) there were not shaved ice scoops (double the size) similar to the ice cream scoop you own previous to the invention you cite.
I don't understand what you're saying.
Microsoft Surface, Jeff Han's touchscreen
Both of these use completely different technology that does not scale down to phone sizes--they're notable because they scale up so well and can sense effectively any number of points, and can sense objects, not because multi-touch was new. FingerWorks, for instance, predates both, and a dozen things predate FingerWorks. See: http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html
There is no one single technology called "multi-touch" and nobody with any sense is claiming that Apple has a patent on the concept as a whole. While they do hold patents on their touch technology (via FingerWorks), those aren't the patents Apple is suing HTC over. The whole angle is a red herring.
Comments
The primary problem with your argument is that (hypothetically) there were not shaved ice scoops (double the size) similar to the ice cream scoop you own previous to the invention you cite.
Inversely, there were inventions (Microsoft Surface, Jeff Han's touchscreen) previous to iPhone that had multi-touch capability and exploited much of the same ideas. They just weren't phones. The obviousness is that creating a smaller form factor and putting some phone capabilities in it were no-brainers for this tech _eventually_ since the technology did exist.
http://www.ted.com/talks/jeff_han_demos_his_breakthrough_tou...
The primary problem with your argument is that (hypothetically) there were not shaved ice scoops (double the size) similar to the ice cream scoop you own previous to the invention you cite.
I don't understand what you're saying.
Microsoft Surface, Jeff Han's touchscreen
Both of these use completely different technology that does not scale down to phone sizes--they're notable because they scale up so well and can sense effectively any number of points, and can sense objects, not because multi-touch was new. FingerWorks, for instance, predates both, and a dozen things predate FingerWorks. See: http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html
There is no one single technology called "multi-touch" and nobody with any sense is claiming that Apple has a patent on the concept as a whole. While they do hold patents on their touch technology (via FingerWorks), those aren't the patents Apple is suing HTC over. The whole angle is a red herring.