Apple Granted 59 Design Patents in China
The Hong Kong Patent Office has granted Apple 59 new design patents covering everything from the iPhone through to all-things related to Apple's "Maps" App and much, much more. The designs related to the iPhone were published yesterday while the remainder were published late last week. Interestingly the newly granted design patents were buried on pages 5 to 7 of the Hong Kong database instead of their customary first page placement. Whether this was a clerical error or one requested by Apple is unknown at this time. Our report provides you with a full overview of the 59 design patents along with a few enlarged Graphics for clarity and your visual enjoyment.
Apple Granted Design Patents Related to "Maps" App
Hong Kong's Intellectual Property Office has granted Apple 59 design patents. A great number of the designs relate to Apple's "Maps" App – from the whole icon right down to arrows and location pins. Apple's interest in protecing all things "Maps" is interesting considering that Apple is now supposedly working on a new "secret project" related to Maps.
Additionally, there are a number of other interesting interface elements and icons that were granted design patents as you can see below.
A Few Random Design-Patent Examples Enlarged
A Note for Tech Sites covering our Report: We ask tech sites covering our report to kindly limit the use of our graphics to two images. Thanking you in advance for your cooperation.
In the US, Designs are granted to inventors under the patent system. In Hong Kong, designs are treated more like trademarks with a limited term of four or five years. We call them patents because that's how their identified in the US. For the sake of simplicity we classify them as patents in our reports.
Posted by: Jack Purcher | September 29, 2013 at 06:27 PM
Just to clarify, I believe these are design registrations, not patents. A registration doesn't have to be inventive, just new and different.
Posted by: Mark Nowotarski | September 29, 2013 at 04:28 PM