6 ms·

The patent office hands them out like candy... "Rounded corners" anyone?

CodesInChaos 5y ago
Wasn't that a design patent, which is closer to a trademark than an actual patent? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent
- Mikeb85 5y ago
  Well it obviously didn't hold up. IMO Apple had a copyright, maybe, it shouldn't have been patentable though. Design != technology so shouldn't be patentable.
  - tinus_hn 5y ago
    That’s why it’s a design patent, which is completely different concept from an invention patent. For one, it lasts forever.
dmitriid 5y ago
The "rounded corners" narrative needs to die. It wasn't just rounded corners. It was a combination of design features for a specific device that, among other things, included rounded corners.
- Mikeb85 5y ago
  Still way too broad...
  - Retric 5y ago
    If it covers even a dozen different trivial choices then the end result is extremely narrow.
    - garyfirestorm 5y ago
      My car looks like a sports car. Not just one corner rounded but look at all the aspects. Only I shall be able to make sports cars. I patented it. /s
      - dmitriid 5y ago
        > My car looks like a sports car. You will then be surprised that car manufacturers often engage in court battles against Chinese knock-offs.
      - Retric 5y ago
        Looks like a sports car isn’t a specific design. Compare a Bugatti Veyron with a 911 Turbo. They both have lot’s of rounded edges but somehow they are very easy to tell apart as are every brand of hyper car on the market. This wasn’t two companies that happened to come up with the same design, this was just blatant copying of pointless aesthetic details, which is illegal.
        dmitriid 5y ago
        > They both have lot’s of rounded edges but somehow they are very easy to tell apart as are every brand of hyper car on the market. Which is very relevant in this case as in the court Samsung's lawyer couldn't tell iPad and Galaxy Tab apart from 10 feet away: https://appleinsider.com/articles/11/10/14/samsung_lawyer_couldnt_tell_ipad_and_galaxy_tab_apart_from_10_feet_away https://appleinsider.com/articles/11/10/14/samsung_lawyer_co...
        pmontra 5y ago
        I don't want to get into this old issue but I just noticed that all my notebooks are rectangular with sharp corners regardless of the manufacturer. I mean paper notebooks. It would be silly to patent and sue for that and with the hindsight of 11+ years that was a silly design patent to award. My Samsung from 2019 has rounded corners. I can't even remember how it ended except that some lawyers made a zillion of money out of it. Whether it's appropriate to use sharp or rounder corners for a given tool is common knowledge dating back thousands of years. In this case it's based on grip, handling, taking it out of a pocket, not piercing that pocket, coexisting with other items in bag, etc.
- marcosdumay 5y ago
  Apple owned the concept of a portable screen with round corners and a grid of colored icons. They had to restrict the icons into colored because there was prior art for B&W. The entire thing is a farce.
  - rasz 5y ago
    LG Prada KE850 rounded corners, capacitive screen, colored icons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdt2wYAB1jY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdt2wYAB1jY
    - marcosdumay 5y ago
      Ok, one that doesn't have a grid of icons. Are you claiming it's prior art? I don't think there has been prior art, once you consider all the irrelevant details. There very likely isn't, because if there was, Samsung would have used it.

Wasn't that a design patent, which is closer to a trademark than an actual patent? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Design_patent

Mikeb85 5y ago
Well it obviously didn't hold up. IMO Apple had a copyright, maybe, it shouldn't have been patentable though. Design != technology so shouldn't be patentable.
- tinus_hn 5y ago
  That’s why it’s a design patent, which is completely different concept from an invention patent. For one, it lasts forever.

dmitriid 5y ago

The "rounded corners" narrative needs to die. It wasn't just rounded corners. It was a combination of design features for a specific device that, among other things, included rounded corners.

Mikeb85 5y ago
Still way too broad...
- Retric 5y ago
  If it covers even a dozen different trivial choices then the end result is extremely narrow.
  - garyfirestorm 5y ago
    My car looks like a sports car. Not just one corner rounded but look at all the aspects. Only I shall be able to make sports cars. I patented it. /s
    - dmitriid 5y ago
      > My car looks like a sports car. You will then be surprised that car manufacturers often engage in court battles against Chinese knock-offs.
    - Retric 5y ago
      Looks like a sports car isn’t a specific design. Compare a Bugatti Veyron with a 911 Turbo. They both have lot’s of rounded edges but somehow they are very easy to tell apart as are every brand of hyper car on the market. This wasn’t two companies that happened to come up with the same design, this was just blatant copying of pointless aesthetic details, which is illegal.
      - dmitriid 5y ago
        > They both have lot’s of rounded edges but somehow they are very easy to tell apart as are every brand of hyper car on the market. Which is very relevant in this case as in the court Samsung's lawyer couldn't tell iPad and Galaxy Tab apart from 10 feet away: https://appleinsider.com/articles/11/10/14/samsung_lawyer_couldnt_tell_ipad_and_galaxy_tab_apart_from_10_feet_away https://appleinsider.com/articles/11/10/14/samsung_lawyer_co...
        pmontra 5y ago
        I don't want to get into this old issue but I just noticed that all my notebooks are rectangular with sharp corners regardless of the manufacturer. I mean paper notebooks. It would be silly to patent and sue for that and with the hindsight of 11+ years that was a silly design patent to award. My Samsung from 2019 has rounded corners. I can't even remember how it ended except that some lawyers made a zillion of money out of it. Whether it's appropriate to use sharp or rounder corners for a given tool is common knowledge dating back thousands of years. In this case it's based on grip, handling, taking it out of a pocket, not piercing that pocket, coexisting with other items in bag, etc.
marcosdumay 5y ago
Apple owned the concept of a portable screen with round corners and a grid of colored icons. They had to restrict the icons into colored because there was prior art for B&W. The entire thing is a farce.
- rasz 5y ago
  LG Prada KE850 rounded corners, capacitive screen, colored icons https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LG_Prada https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdt2wYAB1jY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mdt2wYAB1jY
  - marcosdumay 5y ago
    Ok, one that doesn't have a grid of icons. Are you claiming it's prior art? I don't think there has been prior art, once you consider all the irrelevant details. There very likely isn't, because if there was, Samsung would have used it.