Apple Inc. lost a ruling at Germany’s top civil court over a patent for unlocking smartphones with a finger swipe. Judges on Tuesday said that the iPhone maker’s method didn’t reach a level of sophistication needed to award patent protection — backing an earlier patent tribunal ruling in favor of Lenovo Group Ltd.’s Motorola Mobility Holdings Inc.

“This user-friendly display was already suggested by the state of the art,” the Karlsruhe-based court wrote. “The contested patent thus isn’t based on an invention.”

We need some disruption in the patent process. It’s too complex, too stifling to innovation, too unfriendly to the garage inventor.