After yesterday’s reports that Steve Jobs vowed to “patent everything” following a $100 million loss in court, it comes as no surprise that more information pertaining to the “slide to unlock” patent has been unearthed.
According to AppleInsider’s findings, the patent regarding horizontal movement used to unlock the screen of an iOS device also includes unlocking to apps.
For instance, if a message/email/Facebook notification appears on your lock screen and you slide the icon across to open that app, that’s an Apple patent. It seems ridiculous that something as standard as this can be patented, but, I guess Mr. Jobs was serious when he said he wanted absolutely everything patented.
Who knows whether this will come in useful in a future court room session, it could be a case of Cupertino just protecting its interest. I sincerely hope there’s a reformation of the patent system soon though.
What are your thoughts on this? Is Apple right to patent everything, or is it a case of the system being broken?
