Late last week, Apple filed two separate patent infringement lawsuits against Graphic Properties Holdings Inc. (GPH), formerly known as Silicon Graphics. One was filed in San Francisco and the other in Oakland which are both noted as being Northern California District Courts. Neither of the electronic court dockets has yet to be unlocked to reveal the details of Apple's formal "Complaint." In the interim, GPH has launched a more powerful patent infringement lawsuit against Apple in Delaware involving more patents than their original patent infringement case against Apple last November. The previous patent infringement lawsuit also included defendants Nintendo and Acer. This time around, GPH is focused solely on Apple. This certainly looks like it's going to be a very long drawn out legal slugfest.  

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published seventeen new granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our final patent report of the day, we cover Apple's port hatch, which debuted with the original MacBook Air, Apple's wireless keyboard, five design patents and a list of other patents in our final round-up. 

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 17 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. In our second patent report of the day we focus on a possible next generation docking station from Apple that will include accessory power management. As portables get more powerful, Apple foresees the need for a dock that will be able to manage power more intelligently so that it could power-up larger and more powerful devices safely. As a side note, Apple's patent mysteriously states that the new dock will be able to power up a monitor. That could mean anything ranging from a portable presentation system to that of a TV. Time will tell what Apple has up their sleeve on that particular point; though I must confess that it sounds most inviting.  

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of 17 newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. This morning's first granted patent report focuses entirely on a very interesting invention that relates to display devices, and more particularly, to avoiding luminescence shock (temporary vision impairment) when a display device is activated in a dark environment. When Steve Jobs introduced the iPhone back in 2007, he stated that the iPhone was protected by more than 200 patents. Today, we get to review one of the originating patents that he referred to.     

On November 10, 2010, Graphics Properties Holdings, Inc, formerly known as Silicon Graphics, Inc, sued Apple for allegedly infringing on their patent regarding floating point rasterization. Well, it appears that Apple has decided to counter sue and is now preparing for a showdown. The California courts revealed late last week that Apple had filed two patent infringement cases against Graphics Properties Holdings – though the courts have yet to open the electronic versions of the complaints. While it may be due in-part to the Thanksgiving Holiday schedule, the fact remains that we're still in the dark as to the details of these filings. In other IP News today, Apple has won another round of iPhone 4 Design Patents in China. This report has been updated twice: our last update was made on December 13, 2011.  

On this long Holiday weekend, I thought it would be a little bit of fun to take a look at three Apple Developer patents that surfaced this week at the US Patent and Trademark Office. The ideas cover wild and crazy things like service robots, flying machines and synthetic guitars that all happen to tap into Apple's iOS in one way or another. Steve Jobs referred to these kinds of dreamers as "The Crazy Ones" – and today we cheer on a few of these crazies that live beyond Cupertino.  

With the financial markets depressed and the downturn in the economy extending far beyond where any of us thought it would go due in-part to crazy right wing politics, it's so nice to gather with friends and family to just relax and be ourselves for a time. Even though things look dark at times, we must always remember what we should be thankful for. On this day, I'd like to wish you and yours a happy and peaceful Thanksgiving. Cheers! (video)   

On America's Thanksgiving 2011, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that reveals an all-new concept for managing data on future versions of iOS devices. Apple introduces us to the "Persistent Overlay" which is going to be appreciated for those who need to be productive on their iOS devices. It's something like a personal multitasking bar system that will hold photos, tunes and documents that you need quick access to during the day. The patent also reveals that a new social networking app is in the works and that you'll have the ability to use your Magic Mouse or Trackpad with your iPad when docked. 

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of nineteen newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today. The most interesting one within this group was by far the one relating to 3D Object Recognition Technology that we posted earlier this morning. Yet there were a number of other practical patents published today that were worth noting. The first one pertains to Apple's push notification system. The second patent relates to the magnometer found in some iOS devices that works tightly in conjunction with their "Maps and Compass" app. A third patent relating to iOS touches on "text input using speech data and non-speech data." And finally, a forth patent relates to the timer mechanism in iOS devices designed to automatically shut down the display when not in use so as to conserve energy. All in all Apple Legal gained an important basket of granted patents today.    

The US Patent and Trademark Office officially published a series of newly granted patents for Apple Inc. today and one of them was a real surprise. Apple has been granted a major patent for 3D object recognition that will allow future iPads to advance graphics like MRI images for use in hospitals and other enterprise and military applications covering high-end security systems using advanced biometrics. Apple secretely acquired this patent at some point in the past from Swedish inventors. When the connections to this patent unfold, you'll be both surprised and excited about what this means for future iOS devices.  

The timing of both a new Apple patent application and where I was in Isaacson's biography this past week seemed to coincide perfectly. While our report presents you with a brief overview of Apple's latest toy for Jonathan Ive, the heart of this report really touches on Apple's Magical Design Studio that mercilessly cranked out one hit after another for the past decade to the chagrin of their competitors.  

On November 17, 2011, the US Patent & Trademark Office published a patent application from Apple that technically reveals advancements to visual display elements. The new system uses a combination of a light guide system along with microperforations and microlenses to provide high level alignment on at least one axis. Commercially speaking, the new system could advance the way that Apple creates their backlit logo on MacBooks so as to conserve power and take up less space. Interestingly, Apple's outlook for applications for this system extends to Kitchen appliances, a television and all personal computers stationary or portable.