If you were to take all the patent-related Apple news over this past year, end to end, it would stretch to the moon and back. OK, maybe not that much -- but it seems like every time we turn around there's commotion over Apple losing a patent, or suing another electronics maker for infringement. Today, the USPTO has overturned yet another Apple filing, the second in as many months.

As noted by the Foss Patents blog, the United States Patent and Trademark office has "tentatively" declared an Apple patent covering multitouch as invalid on all accounts. Commonly referred to as the "Steve Jobs" patent, filing No. 7,479,949 contains 20 claims in regards to "touch screen device, method, and graphical user interface for determining commands by applying heuristics."

While many names are listed with the '949 patent, Jobs's name is listed first. The very same patent was successfully used as part of Apple's case against Samsung last August, but was unsuccessful in persuading the court in a recent filing against Motorola. Judge Posner, who presided over the Motorola trial, forbid Apple from referring to the patent as the "Steve Jobs patent."

Of course, this is only a preliminary decision by the USPTO, and there's still a chance the patent could be upheld through later channels. But as Foss further notes, the complete rejection of the entire patent filing is a potentially bad omen for Apple.

Back in October, the USPTO also ruled the "rubber-banding" Apple patent as invalid. The ruling is also still tentative, and contains 20 claims.

Follow this article's author, Matt Clark on Twitter.

Image Source: Foss Patents/USPTO