This is simply not true.

Pull to Refresh was invented by Loren Brichter, author of the Tweetie app for iPhone, and he filed a patent for it (http://gorumors.com/twitter-patent-drag-to-refresh/2754292). As the article states, the patent application was submitted the day before Tweetie was acquired by Twitter, so we don't know for sure if Loren or Twitter own it, but it sure isn't Apple.

the "pull to update" pattern was invented by the maker of the Tweetie app, who was hired by Twitter.

which hasn't stopped anyone from using it in their own apps anyway (e.g. Facebook)