Apple receives patent for the OS X dock

Filed under: Utilities, Windows, Macintosh, Linux, Apple

Apple receives patent for the OS X dock

by Brad Linder Oct 8th 2008

Apple has received a patent for the dock utility for launching applications in OS X. Yes, the dock has been around for the better part of a decade, but Apple applied for the patent back in 1999 and didn't receive it until this week. The patent describes an interface for consolidating frequently used items in a "userbar." It also covers the way that items are magnified when you scroll your cursor over them.

In other words, it looks like Apple may be able to go after the makers of ObjectDock, RocketDock, sTabLauncher, Avant Window Navigator, Cairo Dock and others. Sure, those applications may not steal any code from Apple, but they're based on the same concept.

Now, I'm not saying Apple shouldn't have been able to patent the dock concept. I'm not going to take a position on that, one way or the other. But this is the sort of thing that can happen when it takes the US patent system 9 years to rule on a patent application.

[via The Register]

Tags: avant-window-navigator, cairo-dock, dock, objectdock, os-x, os-x-dock, patent, rocketdock, stablauncher

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Ben said 5:34PM on 10-08-2008

Just for the record, most of the time when companies like MS or Apple patent this type of thing, it's so THEY don't get sued. Very rarely do you see them suing small companies or open source project managers. Apple is almost certainly just trying to cover themselves with this patent.

David said 5:35PM on 10-08-2008

That is stupid. Would ex post facto have something to do with this??? I would hate it if Awn got was crushed by Apple... And what don't Macs steal from Linux?
Gnome 2.24 just came out with tabbed file browsing. In a few years, every OS will have it. That's the same thing as a dock, except not everyone has a dock...

Bufsabre said 5:54PM on 10-08-2008

this kind of patent is complete bs. its like the way ms sued red hat a few years back cause they own the patent on virtual work spaces. i have no problems with companies patenting or copyrighting personal code, they wrote it its theirs, but to patent a concept, and if you read the patent, its a very loose concept, is utter bull

xxdesmus said 6:07PM on 10-08-2008

prior art -- Apple has no case against these companies that have been using the "dock" for nearly a decade. You can't sue people when you patent something that has already been in use for a significant period of time (that just happened to not be patented yet).

Mark said 6:15PM on 10-08-2008

That won't stop them. They are currently suing a school because the school is using an apple as their logo. Now it looks nothing at all like Apple's logo, it's just an apple.

If they'll do something as stupid as that they'll certainly try to sue all the other dock programs out of existance.

payskin said 7:09PM on 10-08-2008

I guess you haven't heard about Y'z dock. It was the first dock implementation on Windows so true to Apple's that they went after it and killed it pronto.

Ah, but good old Apple wouldn't do this kind of nasty thing, would they? Isn't it a MS privilege only? I wonder why they didn't go after all the others?

But we most definitely need more patents like this, 9 years or not. Hell yeah!

smheath said 7:49PM on 10-08-2008

I'm pretty sure the Windows Quick Launch toolbar did the same thing in 1995.

James said 8:06PM on 10-08-2008

"I'm not going to take a position on that, one way or the other."

I will -- all software patents are retarded, and this one is no different. You came up with an innovative way to present data? Congratulations, have a cookie and a million Crazy Internet Money Bucks (cash value 1/10c).

Drew Green said 11:03PM on 10-08-2008

Would there be any legal standing if Apple tried to sue a company that developed a similar product (like some of the ones mentioned in the post) even though those products were created before the patent was granted?

gabe_l said 9:02PM on 10-14-2008

Yes there would be as it's time the patent application has been submitted that counts not when it was granted.

Jash Sayani said 8:19AM on 10-09-2008

Doesn't matter... I already have the setup files of the latest version of RocketDock.... And they will always be available through sources like Warez/Rapidshare, even after the companies are stut..... Just no new versions... But these are stable and good enough!!

cub3 said 9:52AM on 10-09-2008

Yeah, who cares about it. Is not like they take concepts from other business. if the code is different then they shouldn't sue anyone. at least i hope not.

Generic said 10:55AM on 10-09-2008

What surprises me is that the idea has been pushed by Unix way before Apple did. The thing that didn't exist then was the zooming, and that was probably because the hardware was not that powerful those days.

Adb said 3:06PM on 10-14-2008

I think Ford missed the boat when they did not patent putting tires on the Ford Model T. They would not have to contend with Japan's auto industry if they had done it. Patents today are used for business leverage. Count on Apple's "new" patent being used if it suits them. M$ was behind the Santa Cruz lawsuits against Linux. Where there is a will (read $$$), there is a way.

trickii said 3:44PM on 10-29-2008

This is not something that will fly outside the US federal system.The best defense is to show its been around before 1999.Think that's easey surprised Sun did not Sue Apple for copying project looking glass sooner!!

Justin Buser said 2:55PM on 12-04-2008

Stuff like this is what makes people HATE Apple, well that and the fact that their products suck. Stardock was developing similar products in 1991, and before that there was a Dock application bundled with the RISC OS (http://productsdb.riscos.com/admin/riscos.htm) which is where Apple stole many of their other ideas from as well.

I will admit, one thing that Apple is unmatched in is publicity/PR ability. They have been able to successfully convince the majority of the public that they are some super idealistic moral beacon of light in the community. Ironically their pompous, holier than thou, "think different" B.S. is so hypocritical that it would literally make some of their more sensitive and fanatical loyalists sick to their stomachs if they knew the truth. Take this for example: http://www.youtube.com/w/Mac-Intel-Together-at-Last?v=b13DKMfzqsc&search=apple%20intel . How arrogant can you be?

Apple first began trying to port their OS to 32bit x86 processors in 1991 and were unable to do so until almost 15 years later when the first intel macs came out in early 2006. This was shortly after the first version of the RISC OS that would run on 32bit intel arm processors was released to the public for beta testing, surprise surprise. There has never been anything about Macs, hardware or software wise, that wasn't done by someone else first, with the exception of their bright and shiny cases. Unfortunately they have been able to market that shiny piece of crap to millions of insecure fanatics. It's ironic that these people are typically so proud of being Mac users, because Macs are supposedly so "different', and not mainstream, and sitting there in Starbucks with their goatees and turtle-necks thinking they are so damn progressive and not supporting evil corporations like Microsoft when in actuality they are using products (I use the plural because most of them probably have iPods stuck up their asses too) from one company that has essentially killed the local coffee shop and another that lies cheats and steals more than any company around, spoon feeding their idealistic bullshit to throngs of drooling idiots who gobble it up greedily, just so they can regurgitate it and stroke their own egos.

Jon Doe. said 10:01AM on 12-21-2008

Someone needs to nuke that god damn company. Assholes are going to destroy any innovation in the software industry. Can you say broad patent?

Featured Time Waster

Civiballs is a beautiful, soothing physics puzzle Time Waster

I have an absolute weakness for physics games, and while Civiballs isn't the strongest physics-based game, what it lacks in the physics department it makes up for a few times over in style and fun.

In Civiballs, you are presented with a few colored balls, and your goal is to get those balls into the same-colored urn on the level. The "civi" part of Civiballs is that there are 3 sets of levels to play, each representing a different civilization. While the civilization doesn't affect gameplay, the artwork for each level is beautifully themed to it's appropriate era.

To play the game, you are given only one tool - a sword with which to cut the chains that are holding the balls. The puzzle part of the game is in figuring out what order, and with what timing to cut each chain. Do it right, and all the right balls end up in the right urns, with no stray balls entering an urn (a no-no). Do it wrong, and you get to start over again.

Civiballs is not terribly deep on gameplay; the entire game can be completed in about 15 minutes. But if you enjoy this type of game, it will be a very enjoyable 15 minutes.

View more Time Wasters