A few months ago, Samsung’s mobile president Shin Jong-kyun told reporters that Apple would have a hard time finding any of their intellectual property in his company’s new Galaxy Nexus handset.
He obviously underestimated Apple’s legal team. Reports are coming in that Apple has just filed another lawsuit in Germany against Samsung for the use of — get this — its patented ‘Slide to Unlock’ feature…
Apple was awarded the patent covering its infamous Slide to Unlock component of iOS in October of last year. And given that a handful of Android manufacturers have implemented the feature into their handsets, we figured it was only a matter of time before Apple went after someone.
Both Windows Phone 7 and HP’s Web OS have managed to create unlocking mechanisms that don’t involve sliding an on-screen object from left-to-right. So it seems like Apple might actually have a legitimate case here. It’ll be interesting to see what a judge has to say about it.
This lawsuit is the latest in Apple’s ongoing fight against not just Samsung, but all major Android partners. Apple’s beef with Google’s popular mobile operating system dates all the way back to 2010, when Steve Jobs accused the company of blatantly stealing a number of iOS elements, including multi-touch pinch-to-zoom, and kinetic scrolling.
What do you think? Does Apple’s Slide to Unlock case hold water?