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I. Neonode Invented Swipe to Unlock, Not Apple
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Similar prior art referenced by HTC convinced the judge that Apple had habitually trolled the patent waters, patenting technology that other companies had already brought to market at the time of its filings. Two other key software patents were also found to be invalid due to obviousness and/or prior art.
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After all late Apple CEO and co-founder Steven P. Jobs famously brazenly bragged of his company's lust for stealing others' work, "Picasso had a saying - 'Good artists copy, great artists steal.' And we have always been shameless about stealing great ideas."
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The British judge blasted that line of thinking calling the inclusion of a slider "obvious" and saying that the advances in touch detection did not call for a repatenting of the same technology.
Apple issued a statement to the BBC, "We think competition is healthy, but competitors should create their own original technology, not steal ours."
But according to the British judge, it was Apple who stole others' work, not the other way around. Apple refused comment on whether it considered it an acceptable practice to steal others' work, a practice it has repeatedly condemned others for supposedly doing.
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As HTC said in its comment, Apple, despite virtually standing still interface-wise hopes to compensate by courtroom thuggery. Unfortunately for it, much of its technology appears to be invalid and borrowed (or "stolen" to use Apple's own terminology).
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