The US Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has recently granted Apple a patent for the Slide to Unlock feature on a touch-sensitive display. At the outset, it may seem that the patent may lend additional firepower to Apple especially in its patent-infringement battles with rivals like Samsung, Motorola, and HTC. But the patent, originally granted in February 2, 2010 as Patent Number 7,657,849 and reissued as Patent Number 8,046,721 just four days ago (October 25) has stirred up controversy anew as analysts and industry watchers are questioning its validity and soundness.


Simply described as "Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image", the patent has the following abstract:

"A device with a touch-sensitive display may be unlocked via gestures performed on the touch-sensitive display. The device is unlocked if contact with the display corresponds to a predefined gesture for unlocking the device. The device displays one or more unlock images with respect to which the predefined gesture is to be performed in order to unlock the device. The performance of the predefined gesture with respect to the unlock image may include moving the unlock image to a predefined location and/or moving the unlock image along a predefined path. The device may also display visual cues of the predefined gesture on the touch screen to remind a user of the gesture."

The application for the patent was initially filed by Apple in December 2005, about a year before the official announcement of the iPhone. Apple filed the patent anew on June 2, 2009.

Apple Controversy: Slide to Unlock Feature of Neonode

The controversy over the patent arises from the fact that Apple is apparently "not" the first company to employ the slide to unlock feature in a touch-sensitive phone. Way back March 2005, Swedish company Neonode unveiled Neonode N1m, a GSM triband phone with optical touch screen technology utilizing infrared light beam and which had a slide to unlock feature. Its market release was a good two years ahead of the first iPhone and 9 months before Apple filed its patent application for a patent "Unlocking a device by performing gestures on an unlock image".

USPTO on Apple Slide To Unlock Patent

Many are accusing the USPTO for not being more thorough in its examination of Apple's patent application. Some irate netizens are even suggesting that the examiners may have failed to consider the existence of the Neonode slide to unlock feature in the appraisal of Apple's patent application.

But a scrutiny of the "Other References" section for the patent granted October 25 reveals that the Neonode issue has been considered by the USPTO, since the following appears as one of the references:

Neonode, Inc., "Welcome to the N1 Guide," neonode.com, Jul. 2004, 42 pages. Read the Neonode N1m manual in PDF format from Neonode website: http://www.neonode.com/Global/Support/n1m/users-guide/users-guide_en.pdf

This detail, however, can not be seen on the patent granted in Feb,2010.

Slide To Unlock Patent Could Be Trouble For Android Phones

Most analysts see the issuance of the Slide-to-Unlock patent to Apple as detrimental to makers of Android phones, tablets, and other devices that use such unlocking gestures. At present, most touch screen devices employ gestures performed on the screen to unlock a device. And although the patent specifies that the device should also display one or more unlock images or visual cues for the user to follow, Apple can very well use the patent to go after its rivals or any manufacturer with touch screen devices employing unlock gestures.

And indeed, Apple had already used the patent against Motorola in Southern Florida and HTC in Delaware. It also forms part of Apple's lawsuit against Samsung in Netherlands.

Is there a reason for device makers to quake in their boots because of this new patent granted to Apple?

Device manufacturers can take a hint from Apple's case vs Samsung in Netherlands, which gives a strong indication as to the strength or weakness of the Slide-to-Unlock patent given to Apple.

Though a preliminary injunction was granted by a Dutch court against Samsung Galaxy S, Galaxy S II and Ace smartphones in August this year, the decision also rendered the European version (EP20080903) of Apple's Slide-to-Unlock patent as obvious, trivial, "not inventive", and likely invalid.

Samsung presented the Neonode N1m in the Dutch court as "prior art", which likely led the court to refuse considering the patent as valid. The judge noted that the only difference between the Neonode N1m and Apple's Slide- to-Unlock patent is the unlock image that accompanies the unlock gesture. But such unlock image was seen as "obvious", and therefore not worthy of a patent at all.

Florian Mueller, a renowned patent expert, has this to say about the issue in August of this year:

"An invalid patent cannot be infringed, which is why the Dutch decision doesn't even address the infringement question...I believe that Samsung's defense against the slide-to-unlock patent could very well also convince U.S. juries."

Critics of the slide-to-unlock patent granted to Apple by the USPTO have reason to gripe and cheer at the same time.

Let us know what you think about Apple's Slide to Unlock patent controversy by adding a comment below. We'd love to hear from you.

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