Amazon Kindle dual-screen e-reader patent granted, Nook potentially in trouble

http://engadget.com/2010/07/06/amazon-kindle-dual-screen-e-reader-patent-granted-barnes-and-nobl/

by CrazedGeek • 16 years ago

28 15 16 years ago

Groxx5• 16 years ago

The portion seen as potentially threatening to the Nook:

> A handheld electronic device comprising: a housing; an electronic paper display disposed in the housing and having a first surface area; and a liquid crystal display (LCD) disposed in the housing proximate the electronic paper display, the LCD having a second surface area that is smaller than the first surface area of the electronic paper display.

Except that, if that quote accurately describes the patent, the Nook has prior art given that this patent was granted June 6, 2010. If anything, this is potential trouble for Amazon, as they could stand to be sued.

That said, it's a single quote from a patent. Things are never what they seem; patent trolling wouldn't be profitable if they were.

asolove• 16 years ago

IANAL, but in the US the relavant date is the invention of the patented item and not the date the patent was granted, so B&N would have to show prior art from many years ago.

msg• 16 years ago

Here's the link and the header:

http://patft.uspto.gov/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO2&Sec...

  Inventors: Zehr; Gregg (Los Gatos, CA), Whitehorn; Symon J. (Los Gatos, CA)
  Assignee: Amazon Technologies, Inc. (Seattle, WA)
  Appl. No.: 11/277,893
  Filed: March 29, 2006

Groxx5• 16 years ago

But... the Nook existed prior to this patent by >6 months, implying at least a couple years of development prior to the patent. Amazon hasn't made anything with an Eink+LCD. Effectively, Amazon is trying to patent something currently selling. It'd be like my getting a patent, right now, for some major feature of the iPhone 4.

bdr• 16 years ago

Who cares about the Nook? There's only one competing product on Amazon's mind at this point (I'm guessing).

klocksib• 16 years ago

I care about the nook, it's a great eReader, and I use it daily. I suppose you're referring to the iPad, which isn't an eReader.

sjs2• 16 years ago

It's not an e-reader but you sure can read on it. And when you're done reading you can watch something. Or listen to music. Or play a game.

If you only want to read then the Kindle and Nook are great devices. As always it's entirely subjective and depends on what you personally want from the device (and how much you want to spend).

thefool• 16 years ago

How does this effect the kno? http://www.kno.com/

sjs2• 16 years ago

Not at all I imagine. Doesn't seem to use e-ink / electronic paper, just dual LCDs. Not available yet either, looks like they just have prototypes so far.

Cool device though. If/when it ships it looks like it would satisfy most who were interested in Microsoft Courier.

Amazon Kindle dual-screen e-reader patent granted, Nook potentially in trouble

Related Stories