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.
Every company that designs any compnsumer product of any kind uses design patents and copyright to protect the look and feel of their products from knock off artists and frauds. The importation and sale of counterfeit products is an over $100 Billion drain on our economy. . . and includes things such as counterfeit aircraft parts, which have resulted in plane crashes; counterfeit prescription drugs that have no active ingredients that look exactly like the genuine product that have killed patients! You think it's just nothing???
Asian rice cookers as well as other common appliances had magnetic connectors long before Apple products did. Maybe Apple bought the patent off some chinese guy.
Apple certainly could, but there's a thread running today on that very topic in which a company says they intend to do that. That's what I thought you were talking about. I don't think Apple will, because batteries produce heat on charging and discharging. . . Not something I would want wrapped around my wrist. ;^(
Facts trump anecdotes everyday.
Much of which is produced in communist china, which you and Apple warmly support.
Here’s the link to the thread on the hidden Apple Watch port:
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/3286286/posts
Most of the bogus drugs come from India.
The batteries will be in the watch, The band will hold the equipment needed to touch the skin in order to get the body voltage and/or kinetic movement, and transfer the energy into the batteries in the watch.
THe batteries themselves in the next version of the watch will be more advanced nanotechnology designed batteries that are currently under development. THey will charge far faster and will not generate the heat issues, the way current ones do.
For gen 1 users they’ll need to get the new band, and probably have to exchange their current batteries for the new next-gen batteries that will work optimally with the new charging band.
Like it or not, people have been patenting "look and feel" since the 1840s.
Speaking as educated Economist, I'll say again what I've told you before, the economic system in China can no longer be described as "communist" as they are embracing Capitalism. It is still a totalitarian government but they are switching their economic model from communism to capitalistic as fast as they can with a socialist superstructure. They are fostering entrepreneurship as a way to grow their economy and keep their people working. . . But make no mistake, they are not a republic, nor are they democratic in any way. They run their government in a totalitarian way.
We must recognize that the paradigm of communist, centralized soviet, economic control of the means of production just does NOT exist in modern China anymore and we cannot continue to think of them that way as you do. WAKE UP! Recognize their government's Totalitarian nature, but add to it the engine of a Capitalist Economy that knows how to wield economic weaponry!
THAT can be a truly formidable enemy, one that the old Soviet Union could never have been because they were too inflexible, wedded to their ideology and myths of Marxist superiority. The Chinese are not. They are pragmatic. They'll do what works. . . but they still want power!
We will never defeat them by thinking they are still what they were twenty years ago. China has changed. China always changes.
Now that's a possibility. Apple did make the battery replaceable.
Yes, Colt patented the look and feel of his revolvers after the Manhatten Arms company ripped off the design with a few minor modifications to his utility patents.
The Apple watch is a gag. An elaborate inside joke between Tim Cook and Jonathan Ives and other top Apple executives. The joke-experiment is to see what kind of useless crap consumers will pay $300 for sight unseen
It's also a way to generate income for the Chinese Communist Party.
The real growth industry in ChiCom China is supplying trampolines and nets outside Apple slave workers dormitories to cushion their suicide attempts
As if selling $10B of crap sight unseen is a successful business strategy, worth sacrificing the potential for $100B revenue in favor of enjoying a private joke.
Co-worker got hers yesterday. It’s awesome.
Look at it the other way around: there’s no reason for a competitor to use the *exact* (or *very* close - not just ‘somehow similar’ in general) same design of the Apple product for their own. The design patent makes sure that it doesn’t happen.
There’s a much higher bar for utility (technical) patents to get granted, for good reasons. But that does not invalidate the usefulness of design patents (most other countries do not even refer to them as ‘patents’ which lessens the confusion).
For the design patent, the single claim is only for how the object looks, and not for any functional features. So design patents are typically only a small number of pages (e.g., 2-5), whereas as utility patents typically are many more and describe how to make and use the invention.
From the movie, "2001: a Space Oddessy"
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