HTC is claiming victory in a patent dispute with Apple after a ruling by the High Court in London.

BBC News - HTC defeats Apple in swipe-to-unlock patent dispute

ロンドンの最高裁判所でAppleがHTCに申し立てていた4つの技術特許違反が違反ではないと判断されたようです。

特に問題となっていたiPhone等の「スワイプでアンロック」というのに関しては、

He said Apple's slide-to-unlock feature was an "obvious" development in the light of a similar function on an earlier Swedish handset.

ということで既に昔にスウェーデンのハンドセット（Neonode N1）で提供されていたそうです。へー。

ちなみにAppleが申し立てていた4つの特許というのはこんな感じ。

1．Unlocking a device by performing a gesture on an image.

2．The use of a multilingual keyboard offering different alphabets on portable devices, including mobile phones.

3．A system to determine which elements of a screen were activated by single-finger touches; which were activated multi-finger touches and which ignored touches altogether.

4．Letting a user drag an image beyond its limits and then showing it bounce back into place to illustrate that they had reached its furthest edge.

1から3は今回の裁判で無効に、4に関してはHTCには当てはまらないとされたようです。

ということで、気になるNeonode N1はこんなデバイスです。