Back in 2011, Apple was granted the patent to the “slide to unlock” feature which can be found on many smartphones these days. Naturally this caused huge concerns for other smartphone manufacturers, and it is also a patent is disputing. Why is this so? Well in case you didn’t know, there exists a company called Neonode who claims to hold the patent to iPhone’s swipe to unlock feature. According to James Altucher of Seeking Alpha, this patent is what Samsung is using in its legal fight against Apple, claiming that Neonode’s patent would invalidate Apple’s own.
Neonode reportedly approached Apple looking to license out its patent and supposedly had other companies such as Barnes & Noble, Sony and L&I on board its licensing deal. Since we have yet to hear about any lawsuits involving both Apple and Neonode, we guess it is safe to assume that they have probably come to some sort of agreement. However according to Altucher, Apple could buy over the company and add the swipe to unlock patent to its portfolio, thus strengthening themselves against future and current patent infringement lawsuits. Of course this is merely speculation for now and an analyst’s opinion, not to mention there is currently no word if Apple and Neonode are even in talks at the moment, so until then, we will be keeping our eyes peeled for any changes or updates in the situation.
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