The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of thirteen newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today covering a wide gamut of technologies including those related to Apple's Logic Studio, QuickTime VR and iMovie. The more notables within this group, however, included a major OS X patent relating to both their Foundation Kit and AppKit which originated with NeXT's OpenStep. The other patents of interest today covered Apple's Pro Photography app called Aperture, OS X's Dashboard and a design win for their new white iPhone 4 – A patent which could very likely end up being introduced in their legal case with Samsung.

 
Last year Apple was granted a patent for a "Display that emits circularly-polarized light." We reported on that granted patent in March 2010. Earlier this week the USPTO published Apple's divisional patent application 20110124260 which claimed priority from both 2006 and 2010 patents which were covered in Apple's granted patent. The illustrations found in this latest filing were identical to those used in Apple's granted patent. Considering that the technology was in-hand as far back as 2006 and that the granted patent actually illustrated the technology being used on an iPod Classic, it's clear that Apple was far beyond "exploring" this technology as others have incorrectly reported on this week. Today's report provides you with the reason why Apple filed their divisional patent application this week.

 
Apple is bringing an action against Defendant Fei Lik Lam, a/k/a Phillip Lam and his business whiteiphone4now.com, seeking damages relating to Defendant Lam's infringing and diluting Apple's famous trademarks, in willful violation of the Lanham Act and for engaging in deceptive practices and unfair competition in willful violation of New York state law. This report covers Apple's formal complaint and their detailed argument under the title "Defendants Misappropriation and Unauthorized Use of Apple's Trademarks" which you just might find to be very interesting. Fei Lam is the New York teen who made the headlines last year for selling White iPhone Conversion kits  prior to Apple's official launch. Report Updated. 

 
On May 26, 2011, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals various concepts behind a newly devised pressure-relief battery pouch for portable devices using rechargeable lithium-polymer battery cells. Gas buildup found in most chargeable battery designs could potentially cause the battery cell to swell or explode and even cause a fire. Apple's invention introduces a new series of designs to remedy this potential fire hazard.   

 
The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 17 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. There were four outstanding granted patents within this group. The first covered the technology behind Apple's original iChat video conferencing system. The second covered a system for integrating gaming & music interaction into iOS devices. The third covered Apple's delivery of a thinner touch sensor panel design using polyethylene terephthalate plastic instead of traditional glass and finally the fourth notable granted patent of the day covered Apple's camera shutter system. The shutter system was specifically designed for smaller device spaces, and according to Apple, could one day be integrated into a higher-end standalone digital camera. Updated

 
Intel's Senior Manager of Communications Dave Salvator supposedly told Bright Side News on May 19, 2011 that "As part of our collaboration with Apple, they did some of the initial trademark filings" for Thunderbolt but that they have full rights to the trademark. That's interesting in light of Apple's latest filing for Thunderbolt as revealed by the USPTO this weekend. The official filing was dated May 6, 2011. The filing date would appear to contradict Intel's statement, as May 6, 2011 is way past the so-called "initial" time frame. Additionally, as of this date, we see that Apple's Thunderbolt webpage still refuses to acknowledge Intel's trademark at the bottom of their page which is common courtesy and professional practice. Was it political posturing on Intel's part to claim that they own full rights to Thunderbolt or just a late filing by an Apple attorney that wasn't aware of the so-called transferring of this trademark? The bottom line is that Apple has filed a new application for Thunderbolt and it's their fourth this year.  

 
Just last week we presented a report about Apple advancing the design of a possible future Post-PC hybrid system. We also noted that it was Steve Jobs who made this term of "Post PC era" extremely popular within the tech community. A recent Forest Research related blog presented an interesting overview of what they felt the term Post-PC era really meant and this week a new patent application from Apple had a surprising revelation that they were working on a new platform independent word processor application. Whether this will be represented by their already standing Pages App is not yet known but it would stand to reason that it would be. Apple's little shocker also hinted that their platform independent code could go far beyond just word processing. This could be Apple's new internet strategy that thrusts more of us into the next phase of what is now known as the Post-PC era. In my view, this breakthrough could be a game changer.

 
Attorneys representing Apple against Nokia file suit in D.C. federal court to quash Nokia's subpoenas seeking to depose them. The attorneys moving to quash Nokia's subpoenas represent Apple in patent litigation in Delaware federal court, and who are also working on Apple patent reexamination matters before the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office. The attorney are also seeking a Protective Order from the court. 

 
The US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application of Apple's yesterday that revealed one of the next chapters for Apple's top line displays. The patent describes a method of allowing a user to steer display light beams in various directions to effectively provide themselves with a new privacy option. The new privacy option mode only allows those directly in front of the display to view its content. Anyone on the periphery would simply see a blank display. A number of professions may find this feature very appealing. The patent also vaguely points to this technology being used in association with a future pico-like projection system and/or 3D Holographic Display.  

 
A number of patents have surfaced over the last two years concerning light pens and apps moving to touch screens. While one of the first detailed patents surfaced in 2009 in relation to business forms, we've since seen some serious advances in Apple's pursuit of the Smart-Pen including a huge leap in the field of graphics pens. It's the latter that's interesting in light of Apple's latest patent revelation that Aperture is coming to touch displays including handhelds like the iPad. It may even come to future desktops and laptops that offer touch displays, according to Apple. An advanced graphics pen would be great for fast photo touch-ups and appreciated by photographers using Aperture on-the-go. Who knows, maybe Apple is even gearing this up for future hybrid systems. Time will tell.

 
In January we pointed to a possible HP music cloud service that could debut with their future TouchPad tablet due to their 3par acquisition. Such a service had the potential of upsetting Apple's iTunes kingdom. Then word broke in April that Apple was acquiring iCloud followed by news in May that Apple signed a cloud-music licensing agreement with EMI Music and others. Today, a new Apple patent application dating back to Q4 2009 shows that Apple has been working on a cloud based media service for some time. Apple's patent details a very unique approach to cloud based services using iTunes which they describe as being "seamless and invisible to the user."  

 
It appears that Apple may want to drum up a little more mystery and excitement going into this year's WWDC (World Wide Developer Conference) on June 6, 2011. Today, the European Trademark Office has revealed Apple's latest "Noteworthy" trademark filing. On the surface it appears to be a new iOS app – that may relate to providing OCR capabilities. If correct, it would support a February 2011 patent describing a future optical in-LCD sensing panel for the iOS devices: In other words – an App that could allow your iPhone to double as a scanner. Yet at the end of the day it's a blind trademark filing which keeps the door open to other possibilities. If you're a sleuth by nature, then check out our report's full detailing of Apple's International Class descriptions to assist your investigation. Report Updated.