Apple wins 'slide to unlock' patent

Now, it's official: the "Slide to Unlock" gesture that debuted on the original Apple iPhone in 2007 is Apple's property. This development may force non-Apple phone makers to adopt a different locking mechanism to replace the function, which has become ubiquitous on various devices and platforms. The United States Patent & Trademark Office issued Tuesday a patent grant to Apple for the "Slide to Unlock" gesture, enthusiast site 9to5mac.com reported. "The iOS chief Scott Forstall is credited as one of the inventors, in addition to Apple engineers Imran Chaudhri, Bas Ording, Freddy Allen Anzures, Marcel Van Os, Stephen O. Lemay and Greg Christie. Apple actually filed a patent application in December of 2005, a little over a year ahead of the iPhone introduction at the Macworld Expo. Of course, the work on the iPhone had begun a few years earlier," it said. With the patent, no one can now use the slide-to-unlock gesture without inviting a legal challenge from Apple. The familiar gesture is now covered by patent number 8,046,721, it added. 9to5mac.com noted the late Apple co-founder and former CEO Steve Jobs had summed up the gesture when he unveiled the original iPhone: “To unlock the phone, I just take my finger and slide it across. Wanna see that again? We wanted something you couldn’t do by accident in your pocket. Just slide it across – BOOM!" — TJD, GMA News