Apple defeated in the UK

The high court has ruled that HTC have not infringed four Apple patents after a dispute between the two companies. The judge rules that the Apple “slide to unlock” feature, which has been used as ammo against other firms, was an “obvious” development and had actually been seen earlier on other handsets including Windows Mobile phones.

The four patents include unlocking a device by performing a gesture on an image, letting a user drag an image and have it bounce back, multilingual keyboards and a system for analysing screen touches.

HTC stated that..

(We) are 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.

The sheer fact that the hotly-contested “slide to unlock” patent has been dismissed should help legal teams currently fighting Apple elsewhere, but there’s still a long road ahead.