Apple gets design patent for "rounded rectangle"

Both the iPhone and the iPad are in the form of an elongated rectangular parallelepiped. When looking from the front, the rectangle constituting the surface has rounded corners. This is not limited to iPhone, I feel like a shape that is not rare on smartphones, but Apple got a design patent on a "rounded rectangle" of a portable display device. Apple has tried over the design with Samsung, but from the characteristics of the design patent, experts point out that "Apple is not a patent that can obtain advantage."

Apple awarded design patent for actual rounded rectangle | Ars Technica
http://arstechnica.com/apple/2012/11/apple-awarded-design-patent-for-actual-rounded-rectangle/


United States Patent: D 670286

The United States Patent and Trademark Office approved this timePatent No. D 670286Is a design patent that "the front of the portable display device is a rectangle with a rounded corner". The thick solid line in the figure below corresponds to the patent, other dashed lines and thin lines are not applicable to patents.



As for the side and so on, the drawing to be submitted uses the iPad design, so it seems as if the whole is a patent, but in fact it only corresponds to the shape of the part corresponding to the front.


In the fight against Samsung over design, "ApplePatent No. D 504889Has been claimed to be infringed. Although the design patent drawing and the shape of the device are different here, the contents looks exactly like that. The patent itself was applied in 2004 and was granted in 2005.




In the trial, judge Lucy Koh acknowledged Apple's preliminary injunction as Galaxy Tab 10.1 violated this D 504889, but the jury said "Samsung's device infringes some of the other patents in the design process Although it may be doing, it does not infringe on D504889 ". The injunction was withdrawn.

It is Associate Professor Lee Shaver of Indiana University who says that this "patent number D 670286" does not mean that Apple can obtain a new advantage, "everyone is not trying to make two things with the iPad It explains from ".

In the design patent, the part called "rounded rectangle" on the device surface is accepted. If you reverse the back, speaker and round home button, screen size, connector part, curved rear design etc are not subject to this patents. Associate Professor Shaver said, "Galaxy does not have a round button at the bottom center of the body, there is no camera on top of it, the back panel draws a curve, but the angle is different from the iPad, I cite the difference.

Design patents are somewhat different from ordinary patents, so that "a company holding a patent can use it monopolistically and a third party should not make different things with the same appearance" It is defined. For that reason, companies have a distinctive appearance and acquire design patents to protect their designs.

One example is Microsoft's original Xbox. "X" shaped shape is distinctive.

Microsoft Xbox Design Patent
http://www.patentadesign.com/gallery/microsoft-xbox-design-patent.html


In an unusual place, Lucasfilm has obtained Yoda design patent.

Patent USD 265754 - Toy figure - Google Patent Search
http://www.google.com/patents/USD265754


In order to assert the infringement of design patent rights, it is necessary to prove that "registered design is copied" strictly, and functional aspects are not protected by design patents. However, apart from the above-mentioned matter, the shape and arrangement of the characteristic home buttons on the iPad, the size of the screen, a thin flat bezel etc is another patentPatent No. D 627777It is registered with.

The difference between design patents and ordinary patents has been pointed out by Ars Technica readers and this reader commented that "Apple is shocked if Apple has not applied for all design patents on devices."

Incidentally, around the time that patent number D670286 was approved, Apple lost a patent infringement litigation from VirnetX and was ordered to pay 368 million dollars (about 29.2 billion yen).

Apple Ordered to Pay $ 368 Million in Patent Case Brought by VirnetX - Ina Fried - News - AllThingsD
http://allthingsd.com/20121106/apple-ordered-to-pay-368-million-in-patent-trial-in-virnetx/


Applicable to "FaceTimeThe part related to ". VirnetX monetizes with patent rightsPatent · TrollIt is known as Microsoft, winning $ 200 million from Microsoft in 2010, and currently suing Cisco, Avaya and Siemens.