The article also mentions Apple began filing patents for these things in 2004, and they acquired FingerWorks, which may have been working on such technology for even longer.
I believe Apple's implementation of the multitouch hardware/software is unique (very different than Jeff Han's FTIR method) which certainly is patentable, though that's a different issue than the gestures.
I believe Apple's implementation of the multitouch hardware/software is unique (very different than Jeff Han's FTIR method) which certainly is patentable, though that's a different issue than the gestures.