Palm unconcerned about Apple multitouch rights

Whether it is bravado, public relations, or a big case of confidence, Palm is showing very little concern about the threat of Apple patent infringement issues regarding multitouch.

In striking contrast to the way that the multitouch issue was handled by Google Android (they just didn’t include it) the Palm Pre came out with a full complement of multitouch features despite Apple’s claim to having a patent which covers the technology. The Pre was a big hit at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but it was also noticed at the show that there may be legal problems surrounding the Pre and multitouch.

Tim Cook, the new Apple CEO, in fact said, “I don’t want to talk about any specific company… However, we will not stand for having our intellectual property ripped off and we’ll use whatever weapons we have at our disposal. I don’t know that I can be more clear than that.” It was at least very clear that he was talking about Palm and the Pre.

Palm CEO Ed Colligan fired back today at a conference in San Francisco. Colligan says, “The whole area of patents is elaborate; (there are) a lot of issues there, and a very complex area. One of the things we’ve done over 15 years is build a very extensive patent portfolio in the mobile computing space, one of the highest-rated patent portfolios in this space, which contains more than 1,500 patents. And the reason you do that is to have a defensive position in the marketplace. It’s kind of like two little porcupines going around, and you don’t want to touch each other because you might get stung. You peacefully coexist and everything’s OK and we keep working together.”

That does not sound like much in the way of concern. Palm is indeed the veteran of many patent infringement lawsuits, from both sides of the courtroom. Colligan was also careful to point out that Cook’s original statement was made a month ago and Apple had not even fired the first shot in the patent war, according to an article in CNET. But while it’s true that these battles can last forever, it is also true that the plaintiff needs to get all his ducks in a row before starting the fight. It is not to late for this war to begin.

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