HTC Defeats Apple In Slide-To-Unlock Patent Dispute 149
another random user sends this quote from the BBC:
"HTC is claiming victory in a patent dispute with Apple after a ruling by the High Court in London. The judge ruled that HTC had not infringed four technologies that Apple had claimed as its own. He said Apple's slide-to-unlock feature was an 'obvious' development in the light of a similar function on an earlier Swedish handset. Lawyers fighting other lawsuits against Apple are likely to pay close attention to the decision regarding its slide-to-unlock patent."
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Informative)
From what I understand, the search-from-multiple-sources is the Galaxy Nexus' reason for alleged infringement.
Yes, the Firefox awesome bar which searches your local history and online results is effectively being called into question.
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Informative)
Slide to unlock is pretty obvious to anyone who has ever used a bolt...
This is what one looks like for anyone unfamiliar with the term:
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/1b/Bolt_lock.jpg [wikimedia.org]
Re:Rant (Score:4, Informative)
Most probably they were trying to cover themselves in case Apple's stupid patent was held valid. Now they can do it in the way that is best for the customer and Apple can fuck themselves. At least when this decision is mirrored in the US court system, which seems rather likely.
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Informative)
Apples patent on it does date way back, though the description was very clearly for a search dialog on Mac OS, not iOS on mobile (didn't exist yet). It's also based almost entirely on existing patents from other companies, with basically a, "well we'll do all the things these patents talk about, but in this one dialog with voice".
What surprised me is that they didn't run with that patent against any of the other android devices over the years. Maybe the Droid. As far as I know there's nothing really unique about the voice search capabilities of the Nexus over other android devices, is there?
Re:Obvious (Score:5, Informative)
I repeat:So why hasn't anyone implement it on a phone before Apple with or without using an actual bolt?
Did you not even read the summary (let alone the article)? It seems Apple was not the first:
He said Apple's slide-to-unlock feature was an "obvious" development in the light of a similar function on an earlier Swedish handset.
There are also plenty of examples of people mimicking real world devices in virtual screens. Sliders on mixing desks, rotating switches, radio buttons (why else would they be called radio buttons?) etc. Even if Apple were the first to use this particular interface, it is still not actual innovation to just copy an existing design in a virtual form.