Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Apple patents bold new innovation – a paper bag
The Guardian / The US Patent and Trademark Office ^ | Sept 20, 2016 | HAL90210

Posted on 09/21/2016 9:05:04 AM PDT by Shanghai Dan

Apple has patented remotely disabling iPhone cameras. It’s patented Gear VR-style headsets, and watch-controlled photography. It’s even patented the sliding function to unlock the phone – deceased as of iOS 10 – and the concept of a phone with a bezel and rounded edges.

Now it’s gone one step further, and applied to patent a paper bag.

(Excerpt) Read more at theguardian.com ...


TOPICS: Business/Economy; Computers/Internet; Humor
KEYWORDS: apple; duh; insanity
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-25 next last
You can see the actual patent application here. Yes, it's a utility patent at that - not even a decorative/design patent.

I guess when you got nothing left - you go for what's already around you?

Here's hoping this patent is tossed on the trash heap as it should be! There is nothing novel AT ALL in claims 1 or 13, the two independent claims in the patent. I'd be embarrassed to even have my name on such a patent application (and I do have a dozen issued patents, and another 18 in pending status - all utility patents).

1 posted on 09/21/2016 9:05:04 AM PDT by Shanghai Dan
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan

This is ridiculous.


2 posted on 09/21/2016 9:08:14 AM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan

Gain a patent on it, then refuse to license any production.
Fiendishly clever way for enviros to rid the world of bags.


3 posted on 09/21/2016 9:10:10 AM PDT by Buckeye McFrog
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan
I guess when you got nothing left - you go for what's already around you?

Microsoft Patents Ones, Zeroes

4 posted on 09/21/2016 9:10:57 AM PDT by Bloody Sam Roberts (Don't question faith. Don't answer lies.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Talisker

Fill it full of crap and light it then watch all the fanbois go into a medieval slap fight.


5 posted on 09/21/2016 9:13:19 AM PDT by ImJustAnotherOkie
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan

That’s not a patent yet, it’s an application.


6 posted on 09/21/2016 9:13:31 AM PDT by BuffaloJack (Own a rifle. Be an American.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan

iBags 1-6 will have those string handles...

BUT iBag 7 will innovate and lead the bag world into a new age by eliminating the handles...

I can't wait

7 posted on 09/21/2016 9:16:45 AM PDT by Mad Dawgg (If you're going to deny my 1st Amendment rights then I must proceed to the 2nd one...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan

It’s not just an ordinary bag, it’s an iBag. Big difference.


8 posted on 09/21/2016 9:18:42 AM PDT by Fresh Wind (Hillary: Go to jail. Go directly to jail. Do not pass GO. Do not collect 2 billion dollars.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan

Since they just lost a big patent lawsuit, maybe they are trying to discredit the whole patent system.


9 posted on 09/21/2016 9:36:35 AM PDT by PAR35
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Mad Dawgg

i-Bags...
Sorry Apple. Hillary already has them.


10 posted on 09/21/2016 9:42:27 AM PDT by Ouchthatonehurt ("When you're going through hell, keep going." - Sir Winston Churchill)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 7 | View Replies]

To: Talisker
And it's covered (at least claims 1 through 12) by prior art. But hey, it's Apple so it's got to be good, right?
11 posted on 09/21/2016 9:42:57 AM PDT by Shanghai Dan (I ride a GS scooter with my hair cut neat...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 2 | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan

Jeez Dan, you are so easily offended ... you should retreat to a “safe place” where Apple is never mentioned or encountered. Actually, they’re not patenting a paper bag, they’re patenting a process that will allow them to create a quality product that is attractive, holds together but is recyclable.

Looking forward to more of your amusing postings created by your special snowflake fingers. Meanwhile, below is an extract from the article.

*****************************************************************************

“...Recycled paper bags are not an innovation, of course. The innovation, in this case, is how Apple intends to hold the bag together with such a high proportion of recycled material. White paper bags made of recycled material tend to be fairly flimsy due to the amount of bleach used, so Apple has come up with a bundle of alterations that should help its bags remain both pearly white and environmentally friendly.

Those alterations include fancy reinforcements at the folds and gussets of the bag, another one at the bottom that sticks to the sides, and a handle “formed entirely of paper fibre yarn knitted in an 8-stitch circular knit pattern”....”


12 posted on 09/21/2016 9:46:32 AM PDT by House Atreides (Send BOTH Hillary & Bill to prison.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan
And it's covered (at least claims 1 through 12) by prior art. But hey, it's Apple so it's got to be good, right?

But dude... it's... white...

13 posted on 09/21/2016 9:53:49 AM PDT by Talisker (One who commands, must obey.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 11 | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan
Pardon me SD.

This forms the foundation for the new iBag.

14 posted on 09/21/2016 9:57:46 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: House Atreides
You need to learn how to read a patent, then! What you talk about is someone's attempted SPIN on the patent. But what is actually patented - what is covered - is listed in the claims. That's the entirety of what is covered.

Look at the actual patent application. Now, go look at that section that is titled "Claims". You will see the first independent claim:

1. A retail paper bag, comprising: a bag container formed of white paper with at least 60% post-consumer content.

That is the claim. In its entirety. Nothing else added to it, it is an independent claim and is supposed to stand on its own. The next 11 claims are dependent on this one, they may narrow its focus but cannot extend it.

It's a patent claim for a white paper bag with 60%+ post consumer content. Nothing more, nothing less.

Now, we can assume there are two things here about your post: the first is that you are somewhat ignorant of the workings of a patent, and what is important or not (I myself have a dozen issued utility patents, and 18 more in the pipeline). The second is that you simply want to defend what is a bad patent because you are a cheerleader for the company filing the application.

In either case - you're wrong. The flowerly prose you post is irrelevant. It's description that is used to describe how an invention is used, or why it is different from existing art (which readily exists). But it cannot extend claims at all, it can only limit them.

Your quote extract does NOTHING to the claims, and in fact shows the claims as made are different from what is described. It's a flat-out bad patent application.

But, for someone with their lips wrapped around Cook's rear end, it would be just sunshine and roses... You really want to defend this clunker of a patent application? Seriously? This is the innovation you love to see come out of Cupertino - prior art described in language bereft of logic or reason, claims that do not relate to the same invention?

15 posted on 09/21/2016 10:03:40 AM PDT by Shanghai Dan (I ride a GS scooter with my hair cut neat...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 12 | View Replies]

To: aMorePerfectUnion

Gotta carry the iMoney from the iFans somehow, right? ;)


16 posted on 09/21/2016 10:04:20 AM PDT by Shanghai Dan (I ride a GS scooter with my hair cut neat...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 14 | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan

They haven’t patented anything with this. It is an application, not a patent.

By the time it issues (if ever) it will have much narrower claims.


17 posted on 09/21/2016 10:06:42 AM PDT by 13foxtrot
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan

I think you meant iMoney...


18 posted on 09/21/2016 10:10:29 AM PDT by aMorePerfectUnion
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 16 | View Replies]

To: Shanghai Dan

“...It’s a patent claim for a white paper bag with 60%+ post consumer content. Nothing more, nothing less....”
*********************************************************************************

Really? “Nothing more, nothing less”??? EVERYTHING beyond #1 (actual verbiage from the patent application) below is SOMETHING MORE. So your claim of “nothing more” is as empty as your minuscule comprehension skills.

From the patent application:
.................................................

1. A retail paper bag, comprising: a bag container formed of white paper with at least 60% post-consumer content.

2. The paper bag of claim 1, wherein the white paper is solid bleached sulfate paper.

3. The paper bag of claim 2, wherein the bag container is formed entirely of: the solid bleached sulfate paper with at least 60% post-consumer content, and adhesive.

4. The paper bag of claim 1, comprising a reinforcement insert adhered to an interior of the bag container.

5. The paper bag of claim 4, wherein the reinforcement insert is adhered across a fold of the bag container.

6. The paper bag of claim 4, wherein the reinforcement insert is adhered over a gusset of the bag container.

7. The paper bag of claim 4, wherein the reinforcement insert is formed of solid bleached sulfate paper with at least 60% post-consumer content.

8. The paper bag of claim 4, wherein the reinforcement insert has a rectangular portion and a triangular portion, wherein the rectangular portion is adhered to a bottom panel of the bag container, and wherein the triangular portion is adhered to a side panel of the bag container.

9. The paper bag of claim 8, wherein the reinforcement insert is a corner reinforcement insert, and wherein the paper bag comprises a bottom reinforcement insert, wherein the bottom reinforcement insert is rectangular and extends over the bottom panel.

10. The paper bag of claim 9, wherein the rectangular portion of the corner reinforcement insert is disposed between the bottom panel and the bottom reinforcement insert.

11. The paper bag of claim 1, comprising a handle formed entirely of paper fiber yarn knitted in an 8-stitch circular knit pattern.

12. The paper bag of claim 11, wherein the handle has a diameter of at least 6.5 millimeters.

13. A paper bag, comprising: a bag container formed of paper, the bag container having a top edge including a notch, and a bag handle formed of paper, wherein an end of the bag handle extends through the notch and is fixed to the bag container, wherein, in the absence of an applied force on the bag handle, when the bag is in an upright orientation the bag handle droops below the top edge of the bag container so that at least 90% of the bag handle is disposed below the top edge of the bag container.

14. The paper bag of claim 13, wherein the handle is formed entirely of paper fibers knitted in an 8-stitch circular-knit pattern.

15. The paper bag of claim 13, wherein the handle has a diameter of at least 6.5 millimeters.

16. The paper bag of claim 13, wherein the notch extends at least 10 millimeters below the top edge.

17. A paper bag, comprising: a bag container formed of paper, the bag container having a collar about an opening thereof, wherein the collar is formed by portions of the bag container folded over about the opening, wherein the collar comprises a collar reinforcement insert disposed between the folded-over portions of the bag container, wherein the collar reinforcement insert is corrugated cardboard.

18. The paper bag of claim 17, comprising a bag handle, wherein ends of the bag handle are fixed to the bag container between the folded-over portions of the bag container, and wherein the cardboard is debossed where the bag handle is fixed to the bag container.

19. The paper bag of claim 13, wherein the collar is flat across areas where the bag handle is fixed to the bag container.


19 posted on 09/21/2016 10:16:24 AM PDT by House Atreides (Send BOTH Hillary & Bill to prison.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 15 | View Replies]

To: House Atreides

Thank you for confirming you do not understand patents! Each indepedent claim must stand on its own. You cannot take ALL claims together as a whole; the claims need to stand on their own merits.

So, claim 1 - the one that claims 2 though 12 rely up, must stand on its own. And that one - the one I quoted, is literally for a white paper bag with recycled content.

Showing prior art (which I have done in this thread) completely invalidates that claim - and all dependent claims as well.

That’s how patents work. You may not be aware of that, but consider yourself now a little more educated!


20 posted on 09/21/2016 10:55:07 AM PDT by Shanghai Dan (I ride a GS scooter with my hair cut neat...)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 19 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first 1-2021-25 next last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
General/Chat
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson