As if Apple’s ridiculous tablet design patent didn’t hold enough ominous tidings for the mobile tech industry, the US Patent and Trademark Office just awarded the company another ludicrous claim: that's right, “slide to unlock” is officially an Apple patent. That means all the non-Apple phones and tablets that use the omnipresent unlocking maneuver are possibly infringing on Apple’s intellectual property – which could lead to complex legal battles that tie up competitors’ products, as Apple has done with the Galaxy Tab in Australia.
Something that was not discussed at the Android 4.0 and Galaxy Nexus unveiling recently is the state of the patent system. Android has had more than its fair share of run-ins with software patents in recent years, and Samsung mobile president Shin Jong-kyun made some telling statements that were only released after the event. According to Shin, Samsung and Google while developing the Galaxy Nexus actively worked to avoid patents they knew to be held by Apple 
The Kindle Fire isn’t even due to ship to consumers for another month, but already it has attracted its first patent suit. Smartphone Technologies LLC, which as far as we can tell doesn’t actually make anything, has sued Amazon for infringing on four of its patents. These patents seem to describe operating a touchscreen device by tapping on icons; apparently that’s a real patent. 
If you’ve never heard of Intellectual Ventures, get your confused face ready. This patent holding firm, which makes nothing but does hold about 35,000 patents, has filed suit against Motorola Mobility for 
Another day, another story about the ridiculous patent wars being waged by big name tech companies. Samsung’s been the target of hostility by Apple in courtrooms around the world, as the Cupertino company files injunction after injunction to try and block Galaxy Tab sales over an infringement claim. Maybe that legal specter was hanging over Samsung’s shoulders; today, the Korean company agreed to a royalty deal that will have Samsung giving cash to Microsoft whenever Samsung sells an Android-based device.
In a rare example of bipartisanship, the US Congress passed a patent reform bill, and President Obama has just signed it into law. The America Invents Act is the most significant revamp of the patent system in decades. It aims to speed the review process, weed out bad patents, and ensure the right party gets the patent.
The Apple legal onslaught continues as the iPad maker files suit against Samsung in the UK. The case was brought before the High Court on Monday. Apple claims its case is a counter-claim to a Samsung case originally filed back in June, but no details on that case are known. This move bring the total number of patent cases between the two tech firms to about 20 worldwide.
It’s another wild twist in the ongoing legal dispute between HTC and Apple. Taiwanese handset maker HTC has just filed suit against Apple for patent infringement. HTC’s ammunition comes in the form of nine patents obtained from Google on September 1st. 
Google is forging ahead with their quest to promote the WebM open video codec. To those ends, Google has announced that all new videos that are uploaded to YouTube will be encoded in WebM in addition to the other supported formats. Google is also working hard to get the entire 6-year backlog of YouTube videos converted to their preferred format.
It was probably inevitable. Samsung has responded to Apple's legal action with strong words, and the promise of retaliation. The South Korean technology giant has a broad and deep patent portfolio of its own, and insinuated that they believe Apple is infringing one several of their own wireless patents. Samsung also reminds us how insane the situation is considering Apple is Sammy's second largest component customer, to the tune of billion in annual sales. 
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