Posted on 05/05/2015 10:19:15 PM PDT by Swordmaker
The patent -- which ensures the design for the Apple Watch cannot be copied by a competitor -- was filed in August of last year, just weeks ahead of its unveiling.
The Apple Watch's design is now officially protected by the US Patent and Trademark Office.
The USPTO on Tuesday issued a design patent on the Apple Watch look and feel. The design patent filing provides precious little information, but includes several sketches showing the device from all angles, including from the top, side and underneath the face where the sensor and charging apparatus sit.
Getting a design patent is an important step in protecting an invention. Apple's newly delivered patent means other companies cannot copy the design of its wearable. It doesn't, however, prevent other companies from delivering products that are similar, but not identical in design.
Interestingly, the design patent was filed with the USPTO in August 2014, just weeks before Apple unveiled its smartwatch at an event in September. Likely in an effort to hide its plans, Apple named its patent simply "Electronic device."
The Apple Watch, which requires an iPhone 5 or later to run basic apps and receive notifications, is Apple's first foray into the wearables space, and a pricey one at that. It tops out at $17,000 for the 18-karat gold edition, with more modestly priced options like the Apple Watch Sport, which starts at $349.
The smartwatch market had been ticking quietly for several years, with occasional flutters on rumors of an impending watch from Apple. The Apple Watch went on sale last month, and analysts have contended that it is the spark that the market has been waiting for.
Competitors include a range of new or updated smartwatches from companies including Sony, Samsung, Huawei, Motorola, LG and Pebble. The Apple Watch's health-tracking capabilities also mean that consumers will be weighing it against fitness bands from the likes of Fitbit and Microsoft.
Unlike with iPhone launches, Apple has not yet disclosed initial sales figures. The smartwatch has been back-ordered since presales started April 10, and many would-be buyers won't receive their Apple Watches until June or even July. It's unclear how much of the delay is due to the strength of the demand and how much is because of supply shortages and manufacturing issues.
Apple Watch's design has been generally viewed positively, with CNET's Reviews team saying it's "the most ambitious, well-constructed smartwatch ever seen." Like most smartwatches, the Apple Watch comes with a rectangular touchscreen and is offered in three flavors -- a low-cost Sport model, the standard model, and a gold-plated Edition version. Since the basic design and form factor are identical across the product line, the design patent covers all versions.
According to the design patent documentation, Apple's intellectual property is good for 14 years.
Apple declined to comment on the patent.
Are you that much of an idiot that you believe a cable tie is identical in design to the means of attaching an interchangeable strap to a watch body??? Or that a single rubber strap around a cable is somehow identical to what Apple designed for the Apple Watch Sport and other models, which are made made out of a Fluoronated Elastomer compound, not rubber, with a stainless steel latching mechanism? ROTFLMAO!
I'm certain that Dell's legal think you are demented. . . and are also ROTFLTAO!
And only 13 year old boys get their jollies calling ex-CEOs "her" and other insulting names to attempt to insult them because those immature brats are unsure of their masculinity.
Then why did Samsung introduce it in court as "prior art," wasting the court's time (the judge was pissed and was considering sanctions on their attorneys for bring such "evidence" into court. I ask the same question of why do YOU bring it up if everyone knows it was not real, what purpose do you have in denigrating the company who actually made them work successfully? Your point was bogus now as it was then.
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Look at them , they are the same ... besides it's AAPL that earned it's rep as the lawsuit bully over things smaller than that... the second and third pics show the slot the strap slides into... LOOK SIMILAR? As to the "Fluoronated Elastomer compound" That's a funny way to say stretchy plastic ,, same as every Casio Diver Watch I've seen in the last 40 years..
Now we're getting somewhere ... EX-CEO ,, of what? and why does that matter ,, I have a few companies ,, I can call myself a CEO if I want to...
And not one of those watches looks anything at all like an Apple Watch.
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They all predate the iWatch ,, they all look very similar to me... and yes they do look like an iWatch.
Dell can use the cash so I hope they can sue Apple and get a few hundred million for patent infringement on the watchband even if it is just an enhanced proof of concept
I love it when that vein sticks out in your forehead, Ex-CEO.
Such as Apple's Earth-shattering magnetic laptop connector technology, which was hyped as being on the same level of innovation as magnetic levitation and tokamak fusion, but which is actually nothing more than an artsy version of a magnetic connector found on old cheap chinese-made rice cookers.
http://gizmodo.com/5472278/this-diy-magnetic-power-adapter-will-keep-your-laptop-safe
DIY mag connector for your laptop not your cheap rice cooker. This is why the conformist Asians are keeping the Apple Watch afloat. They blow money on rice cookers and Tim Kook watches. You can cook rice in a pot. You don’t need a stupid cooker with BS LCD readouts. Same with the Apple Watches being a sign of peoples shrinking IQs when they get entranced by such doodads.
Wow! You've doubled down on your idiotic claims. This should put your claims to rest once and for all. . . There are no similarities at all to DELL's battery cable ties. . . except in your completely deluded mind.
Are you seriously claiming these bands are identical in design to Dell's rubber cable tie band, so much so that you, asshat that you have shown your self to be, have reported this as a patent infringement to Dell's legal department? You are completely and HILARIOUSLY DELUSIONAL!
Anything you say, comrade.
Many asians can't make a phone call without an iPhone and soon they'll be explaining that they can't tell what time it is without an iWatch. I have often been told by asians that Steve Jobs invented the computer. Soon they'll be saying Apple invented phones and watches. These same asians are surprised when they see someone reading a book on a tablet. They never considered using it that way. Which makes me wonder what they are actually doing with the iProducts they sold their kidneys for.
You pay absolutely no attention to anything except actual facts and prefer to spam these threads with huge photos of staged events that mean nothing about what is actually happening in China. We cannot hope to win with China by treating them as if they and we were living in the past. . . and YOU ARE! You pay absolutely no attention to the facts I have posted and instead post idiotic pictures of children. . . and slogans. . . and call me names. How about posting a fact or two?
WAKE UP! The world has changed since the Little Red Book of Chairman Mao!
The Chinese found the Five Year plans of the Marxist Central Economic planner simply DID NOT WORK after trying them for 25 years. . . and having 25 years of abject failures and 25 years of producing paper wheat and paper Rice. . . Tonnes of glowing reports of how well their collectives were doing when they could not find any of the actual production at all. . . just lots of glowing reports from Commissars TERRIFIED to report failure who instead reported success after success when there was none and therefore got increased quotas based on their reports! What a formula for disaster. . . and they got it.
So the Chinese government dumped their failed system and looked to Hong Kong for their new model and are adopting it in Spades. . .
WAKE UP, Ethan. Quit living in the 1970s and 1980s. Quit believing your own propaganda and look and see what is happening. . . Take the RED colored glasses off your eyes and pay attention. It is vital for OUR survival as a nation that we do NOT think of them as a communist leviathan. . . because they are NOT. Communism does not work.
But a totalitarian CAPITALISM is a terrifying thing we DO need to worry about! The last time we ran into one of those, it almost destroyed the world. . . and millions of people died. . . because that kind of engine can produce like we can. . . DID you even bother to read what I wrote? I doubt it. You are too blinded by your “Communism” boogieman to see or comprehend what I am trying to get through to you.
There are several ways you can defeat such an opponent. . . and the safest way is to make them economically DEPENDENT on you for their economic survival. The most dangerous way is militarily: they outnumber us five to one. . . and especially in surplus, disposable young male population!
I've never seen an "iWatch," so I couldn't tell you. I don't believe there is such a product anywhere.
But if you think those watches are at all similar, you need coke-bottle thick glasses. They are all quite different except in general overall configuration, but not at all similar in design. . . but then you have no clue what you are talking about in industrial or consumer product design, do you? That's glaringly obvious with every post you make in this thread.
This is an edited version of a previous post that you seemed to take offense at and had the AM delete. I have removed the slurs, but I still think they are true. I think I hit close to home. You and your buddy have been insulting me with impunity. . . but I do have a thick skin. Obviously, you don't.
No, I was not "offended" because some of the finest people I know are women. . . my girlfriend for one. However, YOU know very well that I am not a "girl" and you used it as a slur, which was intended as a slur, insulting all women everywhere. Using "girl" as a slur is uncalled for. . . I merely corrected you.
You and the other members of the Apple hate Brigade just cannot stand the fact that someone will call you on your BS with actual facts. . . and you can't take it. Ergo, you have to denigrate the person who will stand up to your hyperbole. . . your intent is to perform a pre-emptive strike on the messenger. Sorry, it won't work.
You just make yourselves look even more foolish because your attempts are just more BS, pied higher and deeper and the readers here see through you both. . . and the rest of your ilk.
I did not say you did. . . but DiogenesLamp was implying that it was. . . and you were involved in the conversation about that, so I politely included you with him in my rebuttal to his implied reference. YOU learn to read. Your slur was quite unnecessary. I read quite well, being a past editor, publisher, and still an writer/author.
Oops, I intended to include you in the previous reply. My apologies.
“...Personally i think it’s paving the way to cashless society which I will not be a part of, 100%.”
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How do you deal with mail-order or on-line purchases? My mama always told me to not send cash through the mail.
Online already go thru verification services. That is not part of the upgrade. the upgrade is for physical POS terminal merchants.
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