Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) claims that they own a patent that is being used by the Apple iBooks application on the iPad. The Microsoft patent was intended to be for the Microsoft Courier device, a tablet that never made it past development. The patent was filed in January 2009. Below is an excerpt from the patent:
“One or more pages are displayed on a touch display. A page-turning gesture directed to a displayed page is recognized. Responsive to such recognition, a virtual page turn is displayed on the touch display. The virtual page turn actively follows the page-turning gesture. The virtual page turn curls a lifted portion of the page to progressively reveal a back side of the page while progressively revealing a front side of a subsequent page. A lifted portion of the page is given an increased transparency that allows the back side of the page to be viewed through the front side of the page. A page-flipping gesture quickly flips two or more pages.”
[GoRumors]