Mashable.com has information on a patent Apple filed last April for “Touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics”, which essentially translates to an ownership of the multi-touch technology seen on the iPhone.

The bad news here is for the competition such as Palm, which is due to release the highly anticipated Pre handset, and could reach as far as Sony, since if current rumours are to be believed the PSP2 will also feature a multi-touch touchscreen.

It seems the description of the patent doesn’t simply refer to the technological specifications as much as the way users interact with the device - with operations like pinching and pulling coming under the multi-touch heuristics umbrella statement.

The PSP2 is still rumour, but the Palm Pre makes significant use of such commands, and this could spell serious trouble.

The Android system was recently revealed to be multi-touch capable as well, despite the function being switched off. This could well mean Google was aware of Apple’s pending patent and has been waiting to see the outcome before making the function common knowledge.

The patent also sheds a bit of light on the cryptic threats recently issued by Apple’s new CEO Tim Cook to no one in particular, warning that Apple “…will not stand for having our IP ripped off, and we’ll use whatever weapons that we have at our disposal.”

It seems the weapons Cook was talking about perhaps wasn’t a team of hungry lawyers so much as a patent document awarded at the end of December 2008. Watch this space.