Slide to unlock on mobile devices

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HFS+

Senior member
Dec 19, 2011
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are developers of mobile devices in trouble with slide to unlock on touchscreens? APple has the patent for it.
 
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preslove

preslove

Lifer
Sep 10, 2003
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PM me for affordable post rental rates. This valuable post spot can be yours for a day for a minimal fee.
 
frostedflakes

frostedflakes

Diamond Member
Mar 1, 2005
7,925
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It's debatable whether Apple's patent on slide-to-unlock is even valid considering there's prior art for it. The Neonode N1 (released in 2004, Apple filed the slide-to-unlock patent in 2005), for example, had a similar feature.

That's the ironic thing about Apple's patent suits recently, it's put some of their patents under much heavier scrutiny than they otherwise would have been subject to and courts have been able to find prior art for some of the things Apple supposedly pioneered. Seems like it's kind of backfired on them.
 
blackangst1

blackangst1

Lifer
Feb 23, 2005
22,902
2,359
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Amazing how they patented an idea thats been around for 100+ years, isnt it?

b4e1c74d-6eca-4ab0-a13a-1722865cdc10_400.jpg
 
J-Money

J-Money

Senior member
Feb 9, 2003
552
0
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Blame the patent offices for being so retarded.

But I guess it's cooler to blame the company who is smart enough to use it to their advantage.
 
3chordcharlie

3chordcharlie

Diamond Member
Mar 30, 2004
9,859
1
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blackangst1 said:
Amazing how they patented an idea thats been around for 100+ years, isnt it?

b4e1c74d-6eca-4ab0-a13a-1722865cdc10_400.jpg
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This might seem like a silly comparison, but it's not. Anything that is just 'a digital version of how it works IRL' should be thrown out with prejudice. Slide to unlock, folder systems, calendar and day-planner views, the list goes on forever.

Allow patenting of serious technical progress (eg. whatever specific software/hardware Apple developed to make their screens more accurate and responsive than other capacitive screens back in 2008 was worthy of protection).
 
S

speedy2

Golden Member
Nov 30, 2008
1,294
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71
LOL. A patent on slide lock? Wow really apple? My 2 year old son grabs a cell phone and can unlock it. And.....we don't even have a cell phone! He's figured this out just from my sister & brother in law. And they live 6 hours away. lol Pretty big secret you guys need to keep locked down. LOL
 
waggy

waggy

No Lifer
Dec 14, 2000
68,143
10
81
speedy2 said:
LOL. A patent on slide lock? Wow really apple? My 2 year old son grabs a cell phone and can unlock it. And.....we don't even have a cell phone! He's figured this out just from my sister & brother in law. And they live 6 hours away. lol Pretty big secret you guys need to keep locked down. LOL
Click to expand...

the slide to lock is not really to keep people out. its to keep you from butt dialing.
 
Juked07

Juked07

Golden Member
Jul 22, 2008
1,473
0
76
waggy said:
the slide to lock is not really to keep people out. its to keep you from butt dialing.
Click to expand...

Somebody missed somebody's point.

But to be fair the point wasn't very good. Being easy to use does not preclude an idea from being patent worthy. "Slide to unlock" should not be patent protected for unrelated reasons.
 
gorcorps

gorcorps

aka Brandon
Jul 18, 2004
30,741
456
126
Juked07 said:
Somebody missed somebody's point.

But to be fair the point wasn't very good. Being easy to use does not preclude an idea from being patent worthy. "Slide to unlock" should not be patent protected for unrelated reasons.
Click to expand...

Not exactly for ease of use, but there is a condition for patents being granted that it has to be new and non-obvious... and one can argue that such a thing is obvious due to locks already working like that. It's all up to discretion though which is why patent law is so silly anymore. Large companies get away with a lot more that the average joe would never be able to patent.
 
SSSnail

SSSnail

Lifer
Nov 29, 2006
17,458
83
86
Hey, if Monster can sue people for using the word Monster, I guess other companies can patent shits that's been around and no one patented them before, and start suing everyone else, because they wanted to be douchebags and patent something that's thought to be common knowledge.
 
HAL9000

HAL9000

Lifer
Oct 17, 2010
22,021
3
76
ThatsABigOne said:
Yes, those patents that should not have been patented in the first place. Apple stifles competition because of patent trolling.
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I don't get it,why shouldn't it have been patented, if they come up with it (which to my mind they did)...
 
Bignate603

Bignate603

Lifer
Sep 5, 2000
13,897
1
0
HAL9000 said:
I think they should be, I'm sure Apple's legal team are on it.
Click to expand...

No, they really shouldn't be. If there is prior art (which there is) then you can't patent something. The patent office isn't aware of everything that exists so they often grant patents that really shouldn't be given.

Also, these big companies do very funny things with patents. Some of them operate under this sort of truce that's ensured by mutually assured destruction. They don't sue their competitors for violating certain patents because their competitors could sue them back for violating others. It was pretty much the reason why Google bought Motorola mobility a while ago. They didn't want them for their phones, they wanted them for their patent portfolio to stave off infringement suits.

Article on it
 
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