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Off to the races. It is CopyCat versus BigCat. May the bigger cat win.

Multi-Touch is the Apple name for multi-touch technology. It cans till be called multi-touch, thats just the general name given to it.

May 29, 08 - 04:44 pm Comment from: Jimbo von Winskinheimer

Microshaft has a way of ignoring patents, copyrights, monopoly laws, and any other legalese that says they can't do something. They throw an army of lawyers at you and stall until you run out of money. I don't think they'll be bothered by the fact that Apple owns the name Multi-Touch, or even that they have a patent on the technology.

May 29, 08 - 04:46 pm Comment from: 84 Mac Guy

I am sure the innovation wizards at Microsoft will come up with their own creative alternative name like: Many-touch

Wikipedia: "A registered trademark confers a bundle of exclusive rights upon the registered owner, including the right to exclusive use of the mark in relation to the products or services for which it is registered. The law in most jurisdictions also allows the owner of a registered trademark to prevent unauthorized use of the mark in relation to products or services which are identical or "colourfully" similar to the "registered" products or services, and in certain cases, prevent use in relation to entirely dissimilar products or services."

May 29, 08 - 04:56 pm Comment from: REALTORben

Mikrocrap will just use the longer name like "Multiple-Touch Technology" or like 84 Mac Guy said "Many-Touch Technology"

However, I think it would behoove Microsoft to just trademark the name "Copied-Touch" and use it.

People are free to misuse trademarks all they want, no matter how many angry letters a company sends. It's only illegal to brand a product you're selling with someone else's trademark.

Print out this email and xerox it.

Yes.

Microsoft's trademark is Multi-Asswipe™

REALTORben, Multiple-Touch Technology - Live

which oddly is the Magic word

I vote that MS's new touch name be "Fingering Touch"

Hmmm, yeah that's it.

May 29, 08 - 05:08 pm Comment from: dd

Microsoft Windows 7- featuring Lotsa-Fingers-Moving-At-The-Same-Time-Touch™.

May 29, 08 - 05:10 pm Comment from: British Mac Head

or multi-fumble, multi-miss, multi-poke, ham-fisted-touch, club-fingered-gestures,

Microsoft will call it Moldy-Touch.

@ Evil Twin

Let me guess which finger!

or Multi-Crap™

May 29, 08 - 05:16 pm Comment from: macspec

my thoughts: MS will call it "Gesture" or "Handy"... ooh, I better stop, they're not paying me for this!

May 29, 08 - 05:17 pm Comment from: joey

MS: "Oops, we meant monkey-touch and, we've applied for trademark protection!"

May 29, 08 - 05:18 pm Comment from: Jubei

@maybe

LOL.. yeah thats exactly what it should be called.

ahhhhh bite me apple ! at least it's not called iTouch or some stupid "i" branding. oh well microsoft will just call it windows touch

Once, Apple made a remarkable OS based on "windows". Microsoft copied it and named it "Windows". Recently apple made a new interface interaction called Multi-touch™. Microsoft will copy it, sooner or later, and will call it "Touches"

May 29, 08 - 05:25 pm Comment from: Macintosh

I was wondering about that... I could've sworn I saw an article a while back saying that Apple had trademarked it.

May 29, 08 - 05:25 pm Comment from: iamdj

Finger Squirt

˙©2008 Microsoft

May 29, 08 - 05:29 pm Comment from: Journo

Beautiful, MDN!

I love how, without even writing it, this article so clearly states: "Apple leads. Microsoft follows. As Usual."

The commentator at a demo can say almost anything she wants. The trademark just means when MS is shipping that box of Windows 7, they can't use the words "multi-touch" on the side.

That's a long way away, and a lot of "ifs" before we have to worry about it. It would be cool if MS *did* try to use the term though. Nothing funnier than a court order freezing the release of Windows 7 on the day it debuts. :D

May 29, 08 - 05:35 pm Comment from: Ampar

MS Big Ass Table featuring Multi-Tush™.

May 29, 08 - 05:38 pm Comment from: ken1w

Microsoft will no doubt call it "Intelli-Touch" to go along with all of its other lamely named "Intelli-" products.

May 29, 08 - 05:44 pm Comment from: Ampar

"I vote that MS's new touch name be 'Fingering Touch'"

What do you want to probe today?

Lots O' Touches

Imagine the new Zune with Multi-Squirt™...

In deference to the soon-to-be-retired (to peddle his particular brand of evil in the pharmaceutical world) William H Gates jnr I suggest it be called..........

TouchBob™

That should go down really well with some of the clients of Preston, Gates & Ellis.





Abramoff actually went to jail - who were the players that managed to put such a big stooge forward?

May 29, 08 - 05:54 pm Comment from: Cascadians

Billy Goat gonna get sued hefty for his continuing bald stealing.
If he couldn't rip off Apple he'd have no purpose in life and no ideas. He would cease to exist.
And the lemmings would be spared horrible time-wasting cheap fake pale broken imitations of the Mac.

Lost touch

handy wipes

May 29, 08 - 06:32 pm Comment from: BiZarRo BaLlmEr

many points of contact clicking and dragging thingy

by MS

May 29, 08 - 06:35 pm Comment from: January 24, 1984

More grist for the mill. Can you imagine the upcoming Mac vs PC commercial?

PC character as a foppish bank robber.

May 29, 08 - 06:40 pm Comment from: R

Multi-squirt.

Soarry, I cooldn't 'a' hepp mysyelf.

May 29, 08 - 06:41 pm Comment from: Ampar

"handy wipes"

So, it's just a smear campaign?

May 29, 08 - 07:12 pm Comment from: nittany4

maybe they'll just call it a "recycle bin"

They will name it Microsoft Windows Live Multiple Fingers Gestures In A Big Table.

So, Microsoft, PC Magazine, PC World et al., just so you know, Multi-Touch™ is a trademark of Apple Inc.

MS's attempt will be called "Me-Too".

It'd be a fitting followup to their pathetic "Look we're cool too!" Windows 7 demo.

Multi-Touch™ is a trademark of Apple Inc.

1. A patent or trademark is only as good as the lawyer defending it.

2. When was the last time MS respected anyone's intellectual property?

May 29, 08 - 07:30 pm Comment from: Ampar

Gates or Ballmer trying to be cool is like listening to Karl Rove rap or Colin Powell putting on a hardhat and singing "YMCA" by the Village People.

...or Michael Jackson, in a ten gallon hat & pink tights, singing "Wichita Lineman".

(makes beeline to porcelain goddess....)

May 29, 08 - 09:55 pm Comment from: DogGone

I don't care what they call it I just want Apple to sue the hell out of M$ (and anyone else come to think of it) who tries to implement multi-touch.

Apple must have surely got this one locked down. Problem is that in the electonic industry it can take years to get a patent enforced properly by which time the technology is obsolete or superseded by something else.

May 29, 08 - 10:34 pm Comment from: Crazylegs

Weird all the way around. I mean how many times does Kara say iPhone? This is so blatant it seems ridiculous. Apple should sue them just for the publicity to show MSFT just poaches innovation.

What's even worse is that they always do half-ass barely workable copies. Watch the "multi-touch" carefully in the demo. She starts drawing with one finger and it cuts out - it DOESN'T EVEN WORK RIGHT IN THE DEMO!

May 29, 08 - 10:56 pm Comment from: MacSmiley

But... but... but... Microsoft's technology will for the first time facilitate the creation of fine art on a computer platform:

http://d.smugmug.com/photos/302727020_J3x2v-M.jpg

:lol"

Let's be clear – once someone owns a trademark, you ARE NOT free to use it. Multi-touch is Apple's trademark. Microsoft, MDN, me, or anyone else does NOT have the right to use Multi-Touch without Apple's permission or without properly crediting Apple.

Have you noticed how people and companies can not use the name "Super Bowl" in their advertising, giveaways, etc.? That's because they didn't receiver permission from the NFL, the holder of the "Super Bowl" trademark, to use the name. Thus, they must call it something like, "The Really Big Football Game" or something stupid like that in their commercials. Otherwise, the NFL would sue them, and it's an open and shut case.

Microsoft will re-brand their version of Multi-Touch into some other name. However, what will really be interesting is to see just how far Apple went at patenting the technology which Multi-Touch is based on. Those patents, if awarded, could lock everyone else out of the multi-touch PC/mobile phone user interface.

And @ Spartacus: Apple never patented or trademarked "windows" or virtually anything else with the original Mac OS, which is why Apple lost in court to Microsoft. Apple's being much smarter this time around. Jobs learned a hard, hard lesson which he is evidently not going to forget.

May 29, 08 - 11:04 pm Comment from: cptnkirk

I think it will just be called "The Finger": •|•

May 29, 08 - 11:12 pm Comment from: cptnkirk

The current demonstration may involve the touching of fingers or other parts of the human anatomy to the screen BUT the other two implementations, the big-ass table and the big-ass wall-chart, do not work by touch at all. They basically work by the use of infrared ranging and triangulation technology. Because of the poor resolution of infrared devices, the miniaturization possible for real 'touch' interfaces is not possible so their implementations are limited to over-sized devices. The BAtable and the BAwall-chart are really amazing in that they have been able to get the results they have with such low resolution solutions.

MS will market either;
Multi-Tuch™
or
Multee-Touch™
Nothing more. Nothing less.

May 30, 08 - 12:01 am Comment from: MacSheikh

I vote for "Finger Me (Millennium Edition)".

Anyone second?