Patently Apple

Taiwan Freaks Out Over Apple Considering US Plants

Tim Cook stated during a recent conference held by AllThingsD that he'd like to see more US manufacturing of Apple products. That apparently has rattled some Taiwanese sources and their reaction is captured in a report by DigiTimes this morning.  

Mainland China Grants Apple a License to sell the iPad

According to Chinese sources, Apple's new iPad has just been granted a network access license for the Chinese mainland, a step that will pave the way for the iPad to be sold in Mainland very shortly. Update 3:20 PM MST: Clarification: Although the license was granted to Apple this past Monday, a firm date as to when the iPad will actually go on sale in Mainland China has yet to be determined. We aplogize for jumping the gun with a firm date of this coming Monday.

Apple Sued over iOS Developer Program

A Delaware Company by the name of Cathas Advanced Technologies has filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Apple alleging that the company's iOS Developer Program infringes on two claims of their patent titled "Web-Based Design Software for Keep-Alive Boards." The plaintiff is seeking a "reasonable royalty.  

Apple Invents New Fault Monitoring Battery & More

On May 31, 2012, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple revealing a new fault monitoring battery system. Apple states that the fault-monitoring mechanism will generate an alert and/or disable use of a portable electronic device containing the battery pack. For example, the fault-monitoring mechanism may indicate the fault through a visual alert (e.g., color-changing mechanism) or an audible alarm. Additionally, our report briefly touches on Apple's Audio Jack Assemblies patent and concludes with a simple question: Is Apple Changing Gears?  

Apple Wins Camera & Wide Array of Design Patents

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of twenty-seven newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our second report of the day we cover a wide array of design wins for Apple covering such things as Apple TV and a possible new icon. In addition, we cover two iOS related camera patents covering exposure and electro-mechanical shutter control.  

Apple Wins Major iPod User Interface & Systems Patents

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of twenty-seven newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. While this morning's patent report covers seventeen patents in total, our main focus is placed on Apple winning two major iPod patents covering the user interface and the systems behind their media player. Steve Jobs is noted as one of the inventors of the iPod user interface patent which covers a hierarchically ordered graphical user interface including its "home" UI. Will Apple Legal use these fresh new patents to further protect their iDevices? Time will tell.