If you're making a flicking gesture with a pen near your computer, watch out. Microsoft may own the rights to the gesture you're making. And if you like to draw letters of the alphabet using one penstroke per letter, you may one day find yourself paying a licensing fee to Xerox.
It sounds crazy, but tech companies have been patenting physical gestures for almost two decades now. In a world ruled by touchscreens, Kinect, and Guitar Hero, these businesses don't want people making certain gestures without paying for it.
Here are ten patents that limit your ability to use certain physical gestures because somebody owns them.
1. Slide to unlock
2. Multi-touch gestures for touchscreen or trackpad
3. Drawing each letter of the alphabet using a single stroke of your pen
4. Making hand gestures to move icons around on your phone
5. Any set of personalized gestures you use to operate your Kinect
6. Flicking your pen at something
7. Shaking your mobile device
8. Moving 3D objects in a virtual environment
9. Two-handed motions
10. Texting without lifting your fingers off the keyboard
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