"Let the lawsuits begin!" That's probably what Apple's sharks (read: lawyers) have shouted with big smiles on their faces when on January 20, 2009; the US Patent Office awarded Apple, Inc. patent number 7,479,949, titled "Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics".
The monsterous 358-page patent basically covers every technologies used to make the iPhone as we know it today, in particular the "revolutionary UI" technology as what Steve Jobs himself called it at the iPhone announcement back in Macworld 2007. The patent also lists a number of inviduals, but most notable names are include Steve Jobs, Wayne Westerman (FingerWorks co-founder), and Scott Forstall (iPhone Software development).
And with this newly awarded iPhone multi-touch patent, Apple has gain an ultimate weapon and becomes the very reason to sue every companies out there that allegedly copied iPhone's technologies. Where previously Apple COO Tim Cook promised this during the recent financial results broadcast: "We will not stand for having our IP (Intellectual Property) ripped off and we’ll use whatever weapons we have at our disposal."
Although Cook didn't exactly pointing his finger to Palm and its new Prē™, but Palm's PR Lynn Fox (a former Apple employee herself) brushed off the allegation with light answer when asked after Cook's statement hit the boiling water. But now she got to find more solid new answers since Apple has grounds to start the lawsuits, and one to begin with is this iPhone multi-touch patent...
Sources are from AppleInsider & iPhone Atlas.