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。