Germany’s top civil court has ruled that Apple’s slide-to-unlock technology isn’t sophisticated enough to warrant a patent, Bloomberg reports. In 2012, Apple won an injunction against Motorola Mobility based on its patent on using a finger swipe to unlock smartphones, and while that case is still pending, Tuesday’s ruling is the second to say that feature can’t be patented. “This user-friendly display was already suggested by the state of the art. The contested patent thus isn’t based on an invention,” the court wrote in its ruling. Apple didn’t immediately comment on the ruling.
