[Nfbf-l] Samsung Struggles to Block iPhone Function for the Blind

[Alan Dicey]

Samsung Struggles to Block iPhone Function for the Blind




Samsung Struggles to Block iPhone Function for the Blind


By Leo Kelion

22 February 2013 Last updated at 13:34 ET

Technology reporter


The VoiceOver function is designed to help blind and partially sighted 
consumers use the iPhone


Samsung has suffered a setback in its effort to win an iPhone ban based on a 
function making its software accessible to blind people.


The South Korean firm had sought an injunction in a German court arguing 
Apple's VoiceOver screen-access facility infringed one of its patents.


However, the judge has ordered the case to be suspended pending another 
ruling that could invalidate Samsung's claim.


Disability campaigners had expressed concern about the case.


Apple's VoiceOver function is used by blind and partially-sighted people to 
hear a description of what the iPhone is showing by touching its screen.


The software covers text and icons including audio descriptions of the 
battery level and network signal. It also allows the phones to be operated 
via Braille-based

add-ons.


Samsung had argued that Apple had failed to licence a patent it owned which 
describes pressing a button to make a handset describe its display. The 
basis

for this was that VoiceOver could be switched on by triple-clicking the 
iPhone's home button.


Apple declined to comment.


A statement from Samsung said: "For decades, we have heavily invested in 
pioneering the development of technological innovations in the mobile 
industry,

which have been constantly reflected in our products.


"We continue to believe that Apple has infringed our patented mobile 
technologies, and we will continue to take the measures necessary to protect 
our intellectual

property rights."


'Regrettable in the extreme'


Patent consultant Florian Muller, who was first to report the Mannheim Court's 
decision, questioned Samsung's tactics.


"If Samsung had only requested monetary compensation in this action, it 
would have made a much better choice than by trying to achieve, through the 
pursuit

of an injunction, the deactivation or (more realistically) degradation of 
the voiceover functionality Apple provides to its German customers," he 
wrote

on his blog.


The British Computer Association of the Blind said it was worried such an 
important feature might be threatened.


"A lack of access to information is arguably the biggest potential barrier 
to inclusion in society for blind and partially-sighted people," a spokesman

told the BBC.


"If something as important as access to telephone technology had been 
blocked by the actions of one company over another the consequences for 
blind people

everywhere would be regrettable in the extreme."


The Wall Street Journal's AllThingsD tech site was more damning.


"Leaving aside the ethics of asserting a patent against a feature designed 
to help the blind, this is unwise," wrote John Paczkowski.


"It's the PR equivalent of punching yourself in the face. Samsung has now 
identified itself as a company willing to accept the loss of accessibility 
for

the vision-impaired as collateral damage in its battle with Apple."


Apple and Samsung have fought a number of patent cases against each other in 
courts across the world.


The biggest award involved a US jury ordering Samsung to pay Apple $1.05bn 
(£688m) in damages. The judge in the case later rejected Apple's call for 
the

sum to be increased and a sales ban on some Samsung handsets.

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