Apple has just lost a high court patent dispute with HTC in the UK regarding a number of patents that Apple had accused the Taiwanese manufacturer of infringing – most importantly Apple’s “prize” slide-to-unlock patent. The ruling may have implications for Apple patent disputes in other courts across the globe, where the company is battling it out with a number of key Android competitors including Samsung and Motorola.
The iPhone patents in question included slide-to-unlock, multitouch input, photograph management and the use of character sets in text messages. Mr Justice Floyd agreed with earlier claims from those within the industry that slide-to-unlock was “obvious” and that Apple’s patent is therefore invalid. The same ruling for obviousness was given to multitouch, even though multitouch first made an appearance on the iPhone.
Mr Justice Floyd ruled that all of the iPhone patents in question were invalid – apart from the photo management patent – which it was decided HTC had not infringed upon.
An HTC Spokesman stated, “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 has also accused Samsung of infringing these same patents in the UK, and has accused Samsung, HTC and Motorola of infringing similar patents in Germany and the Netherlands. While the recent ruling will not apply to Germany or the Netherlands, it does mean that Samsung has something to smile about in its war against Apple after its Galaxy Nexus and Galaxy Tab products were recently banned from sale in the United States due to complaints from Apple.