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In UK, HTC Defeats Apple's "Obvious" Slide Unlock Patent
An anonymous reader writes "In a move that is likely to have wide-ranging implications for patent rulings around the world, a High Court Judge in the UK has ruled that HTC did not infringe on a number if Apple's patents. 'He said Apple's slide-to-unlock feature was an "obvious" development in the light of a similar function on an earlier Swedish handset.' Two other patents that Apple had claimed were infringed were ruled invalid, while a third was found not to apply to HTC. A statement from the Taiwanese firm said: 'HTC is pleased with the ruling, which provides further confirmation that Apple's claims against HTC are without merit. We remain disappointed that Apple continues to favour competition in the courtroom over competition in the marketplace.' Apple declined to comment on the specifics of the case. Instead it re-issued an earlier statement, saying: 'We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.'" This after a similar victory for HTC in a different venue, when Apple's request for an injunction on some HTC devices was rejected in the U.S.
Since apple tried to sue then with a bs patent they must be seen as a threat. This suit is nothing more then a stall tactic by apple to hopefully get a ban on import of HTC device even for a week or a month its a win for apple if that happened
Unless the Android notification bar is patented, Apple has very legal right to copy it.
It's probably legal(and, in a great many of these cases, it is hard to feel warm and fuzzy about the quality of the patents that are being held as making certain duplication illegal...); but it's hard to argue that it is innovative. The two are largely orthogonal issues.
I wouldn't be inclined to say that cross-platform adoption of good UI elements is a bad thing for users; but I would say that there is only so much copying one can do while still having a right to a mystique of innovation...
What exactly in the iPhone is new or novel? Everything done in it has been done in other phones before it, all they did was package up everyone else's innovations make it pretty and slap a logo on it and claim they invented the phone market. Slide to unlock was as obvious as it gets when your dealing with a touch screen. How would you propose you unlock a smart phone?
I guess they need to listen to their same line of not stealing others tech, because that's precisely what they did when they made the iPhone.
a car analogy to counter.
nobody but ferrari can make a ferrari..
but pininfarina still made the nicest designs and some of the nicest were done for alfa romeo and all italians have the same shit electronics bought from the same shit suppliers.
apple has sold others parts as their own inventions ever since 6502, only sprinkled with "magic" and claiming that anyone who buys the same parts from the same outside inventors/manufacturers is a stealer.
your steak analogy isn't that good either because it would have to be a 120$ steak served on a silver platter while the restaurant next door had filet mignon with bacon for 60$- only done properly(not wrapped) and with sauce of your choosing and fries instead of pickled dicks.
world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.