Should MultiTouch be exclusive to Apple?

Apple holds the keys to MultiTouch: not only is it their trademark, but they also have numerous patents for it. As many know from the use of iPhones and iPod touches, the MultiTouch interface uses simple multiple-finger gestures on the screen.

Although this is a method that anybody could’ve thought of, and everyone should be using, there is no doubting that Apple holds the legal rights to it, and as such they are theoretically the only people who should be using it. Except for one thing: it seems that every manufacturer can implement it. As they have done this without challenge, Apple is on risky ground here, because it’s possible the patent could be taken away from them because they did not protect it.

The other point is that MultiTouch gestures have been designed so people remember them. This poses a couple of problems, should the technology be exclusive. Firstly, the other manufacturers won’t let touchable surfaces interact better with users, and, as we have seen with the Nexus One pinch-to-zoom issue, this is hugely embarrassing and annoying, and leads to an Apple monopoly. Secondly, when it becomes natural to someone, you could argue that it is behaviour and not technology. Patenting a way of doing something is quite a bit harder (for the lawyers, anyway).

So should MultiTouch be exclusive to Apple? Since they own it, yes, but because it’s so intuitive, no. Perhaps they should license it, although I hope that wouldn’t turn out to be the disaster that licensing Mac OS was. Oh, and one other thing: there is slight gesture discrepancy between platforms, and this could be removed!