Apple Wins ‘Slide to Unlock’ Patent Victory

Hot on the heels of a patent victory the company experienced this past December, Apple has just received another that it can add to its ever-growing collection. While the patent in December against HTC had to do with converting text on the screen into a usable object, the patent in question today against Motorola regards the ‘Slide to Unlock’ mechanism commonly seen on many mobile devices today.

The patent in question is EP1964022, and was granted to Apple in March 2010. The mechanics of it are simple; a finger sliding along a rail to unlock a phone. Much like the patent in question this past December, I consider this one to be a little ridiculous. It’s one of those functions that to me, falls into a basic category, much like clicking an “X” to close a window or clicking a menu to see one.

It’s hard to tell just how broad this patent is, but Apple winning this battle does mean that competitors will need to be careful about their unlocking implementations. This could also be the start of some serious patent wars, where other companies will attempt to patent “spin the wheel to unlock”, “tap each corner to unlock”, “double tap the center to unlock”, “talk sexy to unlock” and so forth. Where does it end?

Not too much else can be said on this one.