Apple got their slide-to-unlock patent updated

Apple has patents for their slide-to-unlock technique, seems like it wasn't strict enough so they made it "better" or actually more broader, to make their competitors life more complex.

Before they had patent for:

"Continuously moving the unlock image on the touch-sensitive display in accordance with movement of the detected contact."

This is now updated and notes about predefined path and location are gone now. Imagine how Android phones get locked right now? They don't have predefined path and location can also vary, but the image is still drawn over the screen. Would this infringe the new patents? Yes, it would.

We are facing even more patent wars from Apple and even more money will be burnt by lawmaking than R&D. In this stupid war all the innovators lose, because they get dragged into court. For example take the case with Apple's Siri. A technology company named Vlingo got into lawsuits because they didn't want to get eaten by Apple. The voice recognition software developed by them was somehow infringing Apple's patents before Siri was even made. After the financial damage done to the company, the owner was forced to sell his business. Mission complete.

I think it's time to start boycotting Apple products, because of their awkward understanding of business ethics. So don't upgrade to iPhone 5, stay with your current instead - they don't have much difference anyway :)