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"Apple has lost a key patent battle with Taiwanese rival HTC at the High Court in London, including claims over the &amp;quot;slide-to-unlock&amp;quot; function on its smartphones.  Yesterday, the judge ruled that HTC had not infringed four technologies that Apple had claimed was its own.  The disputed technology included the slide-to-unlock feature, involving smartphone users sweeping their finger across the screen to unlock the device. But the judge said that this was an &amp;quot;obvious&amp;quot; development that featured on an earlier Swedish-made handset.  The ruling could be key as Apple has also cited the feature in its overall dispute against firms using Google&amp;#039;s Android mobile operating system.  HTC had initially submitted the lawsuit against Apple in London as part of efforts to invalidate the European patents Apple had cited in a court case in Germany.  The action promptly triggered a counter-suit from Apple.  Alongside unlocking a device with a &amp;#039;gesture or image&amp;#039;, the dispute also covered the use of multilingual keyboards; a system to delineate between single and multi-touch gestures; and technology that snaps images back into place after being dragged.  The judge yesterday ruled that the first three patents were invalid in the case of HTC, while the fourth does not apply to its smartphone devices.  But it is the slide-to-unlock ruling that could be key in other cases against Apple.  The judge said that HTC&amp;#039;s &amp;quot;arc unlock&amp;quot; feature would have infringed Apple&amp;#039;s patents, but a gesture unlock system was included in another smartphone in 2004.  The Neonode N1 featured a &amp;quot;sweep to unlock&amp;quot; system involving a padlock design.  Due to the system being launched before Apple&amp;#039;s first iPhone was introduced in 2007, the judge said that it would have been an &amp;quot;obvious&amp;quot; improvement to offer users a &amp;quot;slider&amp;quot; instead of the padlock.  After adding that the &amp;quot;slider&amp;quot; had also been previously used in Microsoft&amp;#039;s CE system, the judge also rejected Apple&amp;#039;s claim.  In a statement, HTC said: &amp;quot;HTC is pleased with the ruling, which provides further confirmation that Apple&amp;#039;s claims against HTC are without merit.  &amp;quot;We remain disappointed that Apple continues to favour competition in the courtroom over competition in the marketplace.&amp;quot; Apple said: &amp;quot;We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours.&amp;quot; "^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://www.digitalspy.com/tech/news/a391741/apple-defeated-in-slide-to-unlock-patent-fight/>