Apple finally patents "Rectangles"

[DiscostewSM]

December 21st is not soon enough.

 

[Bladexdsl]

December 21st is not soon enough.

prepare to be disappointed

 

[gamefan5]

... Oh god...
I have a question though. Are patents permanent, or do they have an expiration date? XD

 

[DiscostewSM]

prepare to be disappointed

More than I am already?

The Patent system is really screwed up. I mean, they allow patents on "ideas", even if they never come to fruition.

 

[Clydefrosch]

they should have patented the diamondshape with rounded edges as well while they were at it.

 

[chyyran]

I have patented the shape of an apple. Apple now owes me royalties.

 

[chartube12]

Before? No. Anything afterwards? Yes.

But this is Apple doesn't mean they won't try anyway!

 

[Another World]

ford sues toyota because their design also uses 4 round wheels. hoover sues dyson because their cleaning devices both use suction.

its good to know that all future phones will be triangles. i can now design pants to accept them and then retire a millionaire.

-another world

 

[chyyran]

ford sues toyota because their design also uses 4 round wheels. hoover sues dyson because their cleaning devices both use suction.

its good to know that all future phones will be triangles. i can now design pants to accept them and then retire a millionaire.

-another world

Remember to patent them!

 

[Izen]

I recall seeing this headline elsewhere, but the commenters in the thread were talking about how misleading it is. If I recall correctly, what's patented is not a shape, but the entire three-dimensional shape and design of the first-generation iPad, including the location of the speaker slots, microphone slots, brightness detector, volume button slot, the whole deal, and that pretty much every corporation does the same for their products. I can't be bothered to do the research (I really don't care), but regardless, the whole "round rectangle argument" will never hold up in a non-biased court, patent or no patent.

That being said, the patent system is incredibly silly and needs to be rebuilt from the ground up. It was always intended to prevent the big guys from stealing the little guy's design. Now it's just used by the big guys to litigate the little guys out of business.

 

[Taleweaver]

They can sue for something that was done before the patent was filed?

As others have already pointed out, you (obviously) can't do that. But the point is that a patent is somewhat of a "I invented it"-certificate. At least to the degree to claim that anyone else using the <whatever the patent is about> must be using it because you are having success with it. With that in mind, one of the basic premises of a patent should be (IMO) that there WASN'T anyone else doing it long before the patent came into effect to begin with.

Like...say, a simple drawing program that allows this very thing FOR WELL OVER A FREAKIN' DECADE.



To make it even more absurd: with this patent in check, apple could theoretically aim to get rounded rectangles banned from future versions of MS-Paint. Reason: because it promotes the breaking of a patent.
(similar to how empty storage media can get an extra tax "because they could be used for storage of illegal content").

 

[Just Another Gamer]

I guess they will be going after Photoshop now since they use squares and rectangles in its program.

 

[Shoat]

Patenting rectangles...
Patenting a geometric shape?

You've got to be fucking kidding me!

Well, they've already patented both the word for and the picture of a basic fruit (to the point where they are sueing tiny grocery stores halfway around the world for it), so it wouldn't surprise me.
Apple has risen to become a giant bully douchebag over the past few years and nobody should be surprised whenever they pull off yet another completely illegitimate bullshit move in an attempt to get back the monopoly on the smartphone/tablet market they had for a while.

 

[Foxi4]

Its good to know that all future phones will be triangles.

FALSE.​

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Already patented, baby!​

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[Tom Bombadildo]

I can't...I don't even...
Wat.

 

[Treeko]

It's all about big companies patent trolling each other now a days,it almost feels like they do this for fun.

 

[Just Another Gamer]

It's all about big companies patent trolling each other now a days,it almost feels like they do this for fun.

No its mostly just apple trolling everyone else because they don't have anything else to steal from everyone.

 

[the_randomizer]

Apple = a company of sodding wankers

 

[ProtoKun7]

That's a typically British insult if ever I saw one.