A lot of things can be patented these days, including industrial designs. And, when it comes to industrial design, Apple tends to lead the pack with slick, emotive products that just beg to be bought. To protect them from being copied willy-nilly, Apple sought to protect their design ideas by filing for patents from the US Patent and Trademark Office in mid-2009. Those patent requests have been granted by the USPTO today, awarding the Cupertino-based iPhone maker with a set of industrial design patents for the iPhone 3GS and iPod Touch. From this moment onward, the iPhone’s iconic design will be protected under US law.
The iPhone 3GS debuted with great fanfare. At the time, there was no other smartphone that could hold a candle to the 3GS. Hell, even the original iPhone was a head-turner in its day, and the 3GS is light years sexier. The same goes for the similar looking iPod Touch. The USPTO granted Apple patent D613,736 to cover the iPhone 3GS , and patent D613,735 for the iPod Touch.
Both those devices’ designs are attributed to Apple CEO Steve Jobs and industrial designer extraordinaire Jonathan Ive as inventors.
But, no matter how many patents Apple manages to convince the US government to grant them, it won’t stop those Chinese rip-off factories from cloning the iPhone to no end. Not that it matters, what with the best of the clones looking like this.
[Via: PatentlyApple]