I am not going to disagree with you that our patent system needs overhaul, so let's not argue about that.
But with regard to rectangles with rounded corners, I want to share a story with you, since you may not be familiar with it.
In May of 1981 -- that's 34 years ago, half a year before the IBM PC was introduced to the world with MS-DOS -- Bill Atkinson and Steve Jobs were at Apple figuring out how to draw rounded rectangles on their new graphics computers. Why? Because Jobs was inspired by his realization that rounded rectangles were "everywhere" in the environment -- and he in turn inspired Atkinson, and thus one of the core drawing capabilities of the Lisa and Macintosh was the "rounded rectangle".
That shape became the signature shape, the hallmark of the Macintosh -- it was the shape of dialog buttons and window edges and lots of other UI elements, and after Jobs and Ive took over design of Macintosh products, even the enclosure outlines and keycaps and just about everything rectangular got rounded corners... While at the same time virtually all the equivalent Windows features were sharp square corners. But in Apple-Land rounded rectangles were ubiquitous.
Here's the story about Jobs and Atkinson if you're interested: Round Rects Are Everywhere!.
Surely, Apple didn't "invent" the rounded rectangle -- after all, Jobs was inspired by all the rounded rectangles that were already in the environment. But Apple made them a key design element in every aspect of their product line for over 30 years.
I don't like patenting geometric shapes -- I think it's bogus and a bad idea. But I'm willing to say that if some other company started using that shape in a way that imitated Apple's use of it, that ought to be something Apple could protect in SOME way. If not a patent, then something else.
Thanks for listening.
Hey, that is a great story!
Honda still makes some of the best small 4 stroke engines for things like pressure washers and generators. They started manufacturing them in China and the Chinese factories that made them started selling the exact same motors with slightly less QC to other retailers who sold them to the public for much less.
The motors were even painted the same color (red) and nearly all of the parts were interchangeable. Honda rightfully sued and now you can still buy the clone engines but these days you have to get them in blue and not red. So at least you can tell them apart from the genuine articles.
I wanted to add that I truly admire Apple’s ability to introduce and market products. Their products are high quality and designed with an emphasis on usability. Other companies introduce products and it takes years for them to become popular. Apple comes out with a similar product and it becomes an overnight sensation. The Apple watch is a perfect example of this.
I also appreciate Swordmaker’s information and patient explanations on everything Apple.