Even if preliminary, the detailed decision handed today contains some interesting information, some of which is also relevant to some other lawsuits, such as Apple’s disputes with Motorola and HTC. In the United States, Apple asserts its slide-to-unlock patent (U.S. Patent No. 7,657,849) against those companies. Apple is suing HTC over it in Delaware, and Motorola in Southern Florida. The Dutch judge who wrote today’s decision declared the European counterpart of that patent (EP20080903) obvious (as compared to prior art presented by Samsung) and, therefore, invalid. An invalid patent cannot be infringed, which is why the Dutch decision doesn’t even address the infringement question.
∞ Judge says Apple's 'slide to unlock' patent likely invalid
This all started with that “One Click” patent, I swear. Of course much of this is “obvious”, but what are going to do? Let everyone else patent your IP before you do? Apple has to patent absolutely everything to guarantee it covers that which matters, or someone else will.
these are the kind of patents i really hate. apple does need to patent the shit out this kind of stuff until it gets fixed though. can’t remember if this suit was in response to a suit against them, but i’d prefer apple hold the patents as defensive rather than suing.
I have to wonder what the print publishing industry would do in this kind of assertion. Would a magazine that duplicated, say, Wired’s graphic design—element for element—be subject to infringement litigation?