Contrary to what people are saying I actually believe that a patent should be granted for the "pull to refresh" feature.
The inventor obviously thought very deeply about the problem, and implemented an elegant, intuitive solution to solve it.
What I don't agree with is that the patent is valid FOR 14 YEARS. Patents are meant to reward inventors for the behaviour I outlined above, but 14 years is a lifetime for a software patent.
If the patent period was reduced to 1 or maybe 2 years, that should be more than enough time to capitalize on a novel refresh method.
The inventor obviously thought very deeply about the problem, and implemented an elegant, intuitive solution to solve it.
What I don't agree with is that the patent is valid FOR 14 YEARS. Patents are meant to reward inventors for the behaviour I outlined above, but 14 years is a lifetime for a software patent.
If the patent period was reduced to 1 or maybe 2 years, that should be more than enough time to capitalize on a novel refresh method.