Apple, Inc has more ammo to use against Android in the mobile war and it’s a feature almost all smartphone users are familiar with, ‘Slide-to-Unlock”.

Patent 8,046,721 uses very broad language in how it describes a user can slide-to-unlock a device. The patent summary reads

A device with a touch-sensitive display may be unlocked via gestures performed on the touch-sensitive display. The device is unlocked if contact with the display corresponds to a predefined gesture for unlocking the device. The device displays one or more unlock images with respect to which the predefined gesture is to be performed in order to unlock the device. The performance of the predefined gesture with respect to the unlock image may include moving the unlock image to a predefined location and/or moving the unlock image along a predefined path. The device may also display visual cues of the predefined gesture on the touch screen to remind a user of the gesture.

Apparently Apple isn’t waiting to use their newfound ammo in their already brazen patent troll weapon, as they have launched suits against HTC and Motorola pertaining to this patent. What I find funny is that the Slide-to-Unlock feature (which was actually used by a company before Apple even filed for a patent) was denied as a patent in the Netherlands due to it being obvious yet somehow the US Patent and Trademark Office ignored the facts. More so you have to believe patents like Slide-to-Unlock and Pinch-to-zoom give companies like Apple monopoly-like tenancies and for a market like smartphones that will harm growth and creativity.

A situation like this is only another reason why US Patent law needs to be reformed. What’s your take on this matter and on Apple’s patent troll ways?