Apple it has a rather difficult time with patents on some of the iPhone's key functions. Len recently lost the patent on the design of the first iPhone and now he has lost another patent that he was using in court against competing manufacturers. This is a patent for Slide to Unlock, i.e. a software function that is based on a simple principle – a person slides his finger across the screen and it unlocks. However, the technology was not new either, and some touch phones that came out before the iPhone used a similar gesture to unlock the screen. Apple however, he was the one who patented the feature and sued every Android manufacturer for offering such an unlocking method on their phones. But now it seems that patent disputes are due Slide to unlock are definitely over, minialmost in Europe.
Indeed, the German Supreme Court declared that Apple he is not eligible for a patent because the technology is not sophisticated enough for him to own it Apple patent. Moreover, the court took into account exactly what was mentioned above and said that Apple he is not entitled to patent something he did not invent - the proposal for a similar patent was submitted before he used it Apple. The negative attitude of the court towards the Slide To Unlock patent was announced by a German court in a case where Apple fought against Motorola in 2013. However, the first criticism of the patent arose already at the time when the international legal war between Appquarry and Samsung. Here many have pointed out that Apple by nemal žiadať od Samsungu tak vysoké odškodné za „Slide to Unlock“ funkciu, pretože je vylúčené, že by zrovna táto softvérová funkcia spôsobila Appcause irreparable damage.
*Source: Bloomberg
Sony Xperia Arc S GingerBread 2.3 had Slide to unlock, essentially the same as the iPhone 4 and 4S with the then-current version iOS, so the patenting thing won't be that big of a deal.