Opera accuses Apple of blocking open standards again
Opera believes that Apple is, once again, using patents to unfairly block an open web specification. The browser developer points to four Apple patents as well as the W3C page of the Web Events Working Group which aims to finalize the Touch Events Specification. According to the W3C, the specification could infringe on four Apple patents, which are not provided under a royalty-free commitment by Apple.
According to Opera, Apple notified the W3C of the patent claims in a last minute move on November 11. The deadline is December 26. Opera accuses Apple of deliberately blocking standards development.
“The odd thing is that Apple chose not to join the working group that handles touch events,” the poster wrote. “If they had joined, they would have been forced to file the patent claims far sooner. So now we know why they didn’t join. What we don’t know is why Apple insists on waiting almost until the last minute before filing its patent claims.”
He noted that Apple engaged in similar behavior in 2009, in 2010 and earlier this year.
Even if the standard can be created in the end, Opera complains that Apple is forcing working groups to waste time and other resources and become a burden for the W3C. The members of the Web Events Working Group include representatives from Boeing, China Unicom, ETRI, Google, Infraware, Intel, Mozilla, Nokia, Opera, Samsung and Zynga.
SOURCE via Opera
