Week 7, Post 1 — Slide-to-unlock deemed invalid

One of Apple's most discussed and critically examined patents has been its famous user interface patent,  slide-to-unlock. Now, Samsung and Google's Motorola Mobility have just scored a win over this patent. The Bundespatentgericht, Germany's Federal Patent Court, ruled that all claims of EP1964022 on "unlocking a device by performing hand gestures on an unlock image" are invalid as granted.

Apple had a fair warning of this. Apple, Samsung, and Google already knew back in december that the Federal Patent Court would be inclined to invalidate this.

The slide-to-unlock patent isn't nearly as strategic as it is famous. Every user of a smartphone with a touch screen needs to perform this gesture frequently. Apple's rivals have all developed workarounds as this patent only covers some of the unlock mechanisms.

The court held that this patent fails to meet the technicity requirement under European Patent law. Software is not patentable in Europe unless it solves a technical problem using technical means. In Apple's case, it's just a visual representation not deemed to constitute a technical innovation.

This is very different from US patent law, in which case "everything under the Sun made by Man" is patent eligible (provided that it is new and inventive).