China Grants Apple 27 Design Patents Covering iOS UI's and Icons
On Friday the Hong Kong Patent Office granted Apple a mix of 27 icons and user interfaces relating to iOS. The one exception was the iBooks icon for the Mac. Why these icons were filed and registered as design patents and not trademarks is perhaps a finer point of Chinese law. Nonetheless, it's clear that Apple is attempting to protect the iPhone's interface designs from copycats. Some of Apple's user interface designs cover the iPhone's "Slide to Answer," button, the camera, control center and more. This is the single largest group of design patents ever granted to Apple in Hong Kong in a single day.
China's Registered Design-Patent Form (In-Part) for Apple's iPhone "Slide to Answer" UI
Below is the "Slide to Answer" iPhone UI design patent registered status form from the Hong Kong Patent Office. This is only one example to show the date on the registry record being Friday December 5, 2014. All of the designs presented below were registered on the very same day. It was interesting to note that the designs were filed and granted as design patents and not trademarks.
Below we present you with 23 out of the 27 designs patents that were granted to Apple yesterday by the Hong Kong Patent Office.
Patently Apple presents a basic summary of new trademark filings with their associated graphics for journalistic news purposes as each such trademark is revealed by the U.S. and/or other foreign Patent & Trademark Offices. This category covers a few Industrial Design reports each year while others could be found in our granted patent archives. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any trademark application should be read in its entirety for further details. About Comments: Patently Apple reserves the right to post, dismiss or edit comments.
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