[wgx]

>Patenting phone unlock and how to browse through pictures is a douche move.

But they did invent the "Swipe to Unlock" interaction did they not?

Previous to that it was always a clunky button combination (Menu + * on the old Nokia handsets) and this is an elegant alternative.

Why can't other manufacturers come up with a new, novel unlock method like Apple did?

[kayoone]

Yeah Apple invented it, i give them that. But do they need to patent it and sue manufactures of other smartphones that use the same technique ? Sadly, Apple became the new MS years ago..

[wgx]

Downvoted! Harsh.

I know I'm swimming against the tide here, and actually I think there are huge problems with the patent system globally.

BUT - I find it a little strange that company A invents something, protects it, then company B does the exact same thing - knowing there's a patent.. should we be surprised that Apple are using that which the law allows them?

[zmmmmm]

> should we be surprised that Apple are using that which the law allows them

Yes. Your argument seems to be that we should expect companies to behave exactly as badly as the law can possibly let them do so and that they should receive no reproach for doing that. If you use this argument then you are implying that the law should enforce good behavior in every single thing every company does, since there is no other force to make them do good things (remember, you just argued that nobody should complain about what Apple does because it is legal).

Clearly the above is ridiculous and the whole premise of "free" societies is that people and companies are granted wide freedom to do things and the law only regulates the most severe of these and that people will motivate good behavior by each other and companies by shaming them and judging them and refusing to deal with them when they behave poorly.

So yes - when Apple behaves badly they need to feel judgement from the community and this is how it happens. The company does something bad (suing over a frivolous feature to block an entire competitor's product), and we express surprise and shock that it did such a bad thing.

[hessenwolf]

'Invented'. For fuck sake, how else were you going to do it on a touch screen phone?

[thebooktocome]

Hindsight bias.

[hessenwolf]

Maybe there is different version of the galaxy with a slider that more closely resembles the Apple version?

For mine, I just have to rub my thumb along anywhere on the screen to open it, and I can choose a special pattern if I want (I really don't trust that one to work).

How else would you open a screen without buttons? By tapping on it in a pattern? Or by rubbing it in a pattern? Tap-rub-tap just to avoid a patent?

[hnhg]

The point is that it's not worth a patent.

[0x44]

With the proliferation of buttons on most android phones I've seen, they could have easily added a hardware unlock button.

[hessenwolf]

Expensive. Touchscreen phones have few parts, less assembly, less testing... even if the hardware costs more, the design and labour surely costs less?

[jsvaughan]

the "interaction" is a virtual representation of a sliding lock. apple did not invent the sliding lock.