Patent?

[Christopher Heiny]

On Wednesday 10 January 2007 07:21, Stuart Gray scribbled in crayon on the 
back of a kid's menu:
> I was just watching the apple iPhone keynote.  And when Steve Jobs is
> describing the phone touchscreen interface, he says they have patented
> it.  What does this mean about the OpenMoko phone?  I am not overly
> knowledgable about patent protection, so it may be a silly question.  But
> doesn't the fact that they have the mobile phone touchscreen interface
> patented mean that you cannot realease the OpenMoko as it is infringing
> on it? Stuart Gray

Apple PR tends to a be a little liberal in their use of the term "patented".  
F'rinstance, they use "patented" a lot in referring to the iPod click 
wheel.  However, Apple only holds a design patent on MP3 players using a 
round scrolling device - basically, covering the appearance of the iPod.  A 
different company has applied for patent on the click wheel itself (I don't 
know if that's been granted or not), but Apple isn't about to tell you 
that.

Does anyone know if the Apple touch screen is capacitive, resistive, or 
optical?