Apple wins patents for iPhone & iPad designs by Steve Jobs & Jony Ive
Apple on Tuesday secured ownership of a number of key design-related patents covering the iPhone 4, credited in part to Steve Jobs, as well as the L-shaped MagSafe charging connector, and the iPad with Smart Cover.
Jobs, the late Apple co-founder, is among those credited in U.S. Patent D671937, entitled simply "Electronic Device." It covers the design of the iPhone 4, including the original antenna design that was eventually improved upon and replaced with the iPhone 4S.
Also credited for the appearance of the iPhone 4 is famed Apple designer Jony Ive, who was also among those credited in a handful of other noteworthy patents awarded to Apple by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this week. They include U.S. Patent D671930, entitled "Cover," which details the design of the iPhone 4 "Bumper" accessory made by Apple.
Another important invention credited to Ive is U.S. Patent D671947, entitled "Housing for an Electronic Device," which shows the design of the iPad 2. Apple has kept this same basic design with minor tweaks since 2011.
That's joined by another patent named "Cover," this one identified as U.S. Patent D671948. For that invention, Ive and others are credited with designing the magnetic Smart Cover that debuted with the iPad 2, and continues to be sold.
Finally, Ive is also credited among other names for inventing the L-shaped MagSafe connector found on previous-generation MacBooks in U.S. Patent D671898, named "Connector." That design has since been improved upon with the new MagSafe 2 connection found on Apple's latest notebooks.
Jobs, the late Apple co-founder, is among those credited in U.S. Patent D671937, entitled simply "Electronic Device." It covers the design of the iPhone 4, including the original antenna design that was eventually improved upon and replaced with the iPhone 4S.
Also credited for the appearance of the iPhone 4 is famed Apple designer Jony Ive, who was also among those credited in a handful of other noteworthy patents awarded to Apple by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office this week. They include U.S. Patent D671930, entitled "Cover," which details the design of the iPhone 4 "Bumper" accessory made by Apple.
Another important invention credited to Ive is U.S. Patent D671947, entitled "Housing for an Electronic Device," which shows the design of the iPad 2. Apple has kept this same basic design with minor tweaks since 2011.
That's joined by another patent named "Cover," this one identified as U.S. Patent D671948. For that invention, Ive and others are credited with designing the magnetic Smart Cover that debuted with the iPad 2, and continues to be sold.
Finally, Ive is also credited among other names for inventing the L-shaped MagSafe connector found on previous-generation MacBooks in U.S. Patent D671898, named "Connector." That design has since been improved upon with the new MagSafe 2 connection found on Apple's latest notebooks.
Comments
[/QUOTE]
I don't see MagSafe2 improving on the L-shaped connector. Cannot understand why they have gone back to the old T design.
Oh boy HERE we go. These are big.
Originally Posted by ScartArt
I don't see MagSafe2 improving on the L-shaped connector. Cannot understand why they have gone back to the old T design.
Because the L sucked? I've never liked it, at least.
Wasn't it more prone to damage?
Quote:
Originally Posted by charlituna
cue the 'Apple patents a rectangle' crowd
They'd be better off joining the "Apple is smart as f*** to attempt to patent anything and everything they can get their hands on."
Apple didn’t invent magnetic covers! Microsoft did! j/k
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScartArt
I don't see MagSafe2 improving on the L-shaped connector. Cannot understand why they have gone back to the old T design.
I’d kill to have the T-design! MagSafe is supposed to stop your laptop being yanked off the desk... and the L-shape acts like a hook, which very often fails in that task. It’s 50/50. The leverage on the T-shape is different and better.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quadra 610
They'd be better off joining the "Apple is smart as f*** to attempt to patent anything and everything they can get their hands on."
Or better yet: “EVERY tech company patents everything they can think of, so how could Apple NOT play the game?” Apple didn’t invent the patent game, and they DO have to play it or go home.
Quote:
Originally Posted by ScartArt
I don't see MagSafe2 improving on the L-shaped connector. Cannot understand why they have gone back to the old T design.
In my experience, the L-shaped connector held on too strongly. It kept things neat, but at certain angles it will not detach from the computer, but will drag it - defeating the main feature of the MagSafe.
Originally Posted by SockRolid
Meanwhile, somewhere in Shenzhen, China, an iPhone counterfeiting company collectively soiled their trousers.
US patent; I don't see why.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Quadra 610
They'd be better off joining the "Apple is smart as f*** to attempt to patent anything and everything they can get their hands on."
Yeah, because that's the most important thing for us as a society — that anything and everything be patented by a corporation ...
Originally Posted by Beezlegrunk
Yeah, because that's the most important thing for us as a society — that anything and everything be patented by a corporation ...
If you create something, you get to protect it. I fail to see how you can draw what you've said from what he said.
Quote:
Originally Posted by SockRolid
Meanwhile, somewhere in Shenzhen, China, an iPhone counterfeiting company collectively soiled their trousers.
You are talking about a group that has made a business out of not giving a flying unicorn spunk about IP rights. You really think that is going to change now that some one legally validated those rights. Not likely.
Per Apple, as usual note that the detail shown by dotted lines has no part in the claims. There's no speakers, microphones, power buttons, etc. called out. It's not the iPhone 4 or 4S design that's specified, contrary to the AI article claims. It's simply as generic a design patent as Apple could pass muster with. It could conceivably apply to a device that did not resemble an iPhone at all in terms of size, usage, features or capabilities.
Quote:
Originally Posted by charlituna
cue the 'Apple patents a rectangle' crowd
Apple already patented the rounded rectangle for an electronic display, at minimal with regard to a general screen proportion.
http://www.theverge.com/2012/11/7/3614506/apple-patents-rectangle-with-rounded-corners
...now whether they could ever successfully assert it in a courtroom is debatable.
In order to prevent this I use an old style magsafe power supply with a magsafe 2 adaptor that turns it back in to an L-shape again and the problem is greatly reduced although not 100% eliminated.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Beezlegrunk
Yeah, because that's the most important thing for us as a society — that anything and everything be patented by a corporation ...
It has nothing to do with society and everything to do with Intellectual Property, unless you think that society's main concern is Intellectual Property.
This is a tech site - one that is specifically about Apple. Remember? We're not talking about society's ills here.
Quote:
Originally Posted by djmikeo
I wonder if the magnetic iPad cover patent will have any effect on the surface magnetic cover.
Microsoft and Apple have cross-licensing agreements in place. The magnetic cover may be a part of those agreements.
Originally Posted by djmikeo
I wonder if the magnetic iPad cover patent will have any effect on the surface magnetic cover.
If anything is legally the same, Microsoft will have licensed it, just as they did all the other Apple patents they used.
They've learned. And good for them.