Possibly the biggest patent trolling ever.

Started by Zet October 26th, 2011 12:14 AM
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  • 3 replies

Zet

Age 33
Male
Brisbane, Australia
Seen September 29th, 2021
Posted May 16th, 2020
7,687 posts
15.7 Years

Friendly reminder: this isn't a political debate about Obama vs Ron Paul, so stay on topic.

source

A US Patent granted today (October 25) will send Google and Android phone makers around the world reaching for their lawyers.

Patent 8,046,721 is quite dull, but all-embracing in that special way that patents have become in America: “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.”

Read it again if you need to, but to The Register’s admittedly non-lawyer eyes, it looks like this. If you:

• Unlock a device using a gesture on a touch-sensitive display;

• Display an icon telling punters they have to unlock the device;

• Design the icon to tell users which direction they have to swipe the icon to unlock the device; or

• Provide visual cues for users too dumb to remember the unlock gesture;

…then you’d be breaching the patent.

While The Register can’t speak for every single Android phone or tablet in the world – not to mention other flavours of device – the one’s we can immediately call to mind use unlock gestures pretty much like the ones described in this patent.

Here, for readers’ enjoyment, is one of the illustrations accompanying the patent.



Let the fun begin… ®
I can't even believe this was granted :/

The patent system really needs a work over in the U.S. to prevent this kind of trolling.

Mario The World Champion

Tepig!

Age 41
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Posted March 15th, 2017
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I don't think my phone has that when it's locked. It tells me it's locked, shows me a little lockpad and says to press and hold on the lockpad to unlock it. There is also a little slide switch type of thing on the side of my phone and if I push it up, the phone unlocks.

But I guess this dude is trying to make money by suing companies who use this method to unlock phones. Are you sure this isn't the work of Tim Langdell, infamous trademark troll trying to recover from losing his "trademark" on the word "edge"?
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Mr Cat Dog

Frasier says it best

Age 32
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London, UK
Seen September 29th, 2017
Posted July 12th, 2017
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19.1 Years
I don't think my phone has that when it's locked. It tells me it's locked, shows me a little lockpad and says to press and hold on the lockpad to unlock it. There is also a little slide switch type of thing on the side of my phone and if I push it up, the phone unlocks.

But I guess this dude is trying to make money by suing companies who use this method to unlock phones. Are you sure this isn't the work of Tim Langdell, infamous trademark troll trying to recover from losing his "trademark" on the word "edge"?
Looking at the application itself, Apple applied for this patent, and did so 2 years ago. They knew what they were doing, in any case. It gives Steve Jobs' comments that he would 'destroy Android' a little more weight at least.

As well as this, US patent law is strangely lenient. Things like Amazon's 1-Click-ordering system are able to be patented under US patent regulation; in the EU, on the other hand, stuff like that is considered simply un-patentable. I'm surprised that this was granted, but given the two-year-waiting period between application and the ultimate granting... maybe it's to be expected?

psyanic

pop a wheelie on a zeitgeist

Age 26
Male
USA
Seen April 10th, 2023
Posted June 30th, 2018
1,284 posts
12 Years
My phone literally has a button for locking and unlocking it. The screen even points to where the button is.

The US really likes to give out random patents, don't they? But moving on to restrict a majority of touch screens sounds a bit ridiculous, though coming from Apple and its competition, at least it's understandable.