Nearly six years after its debut, Apple's original iPhone has won a patent, with Steve Jobs and Jony Ive being named as the device's two inventors.
Recently granted by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, the patent is for the design of the handset. Specifically, it's for "the ornamental design of an electronic device."
As well as Apple's head design chief Jony Ive and the firm's late co-founder Steve Jobs, other employees credited for the invention are Bartley Andre, Daniel Coster, Daniele De Iuliis, Richard Howarth, Duncan Kerr, Shin Nishibori, Matthew Rohrbach, Douglas Satzger, Calvin Seid, Christopher Stringer, Eugene Whang and Rico Zorkendorfer.
The original iPhone was unveiled by Jobs himself during the January of 2007 at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco.
Apple, however, was taken to court by Cisco Systems, who argued that it owned the rights to the name "iPhone" in the United States. Ultimately, though, the two firms settled in February 2007.
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abbadon_34 hahaha a little late? maybe that's how china and brazil got the iphone trademark locallyReply -
army_ant7 I was expecting any mention in the article about how this may affect the phones currently out there. Something like "Since the patent describes...(this and that)...phones like the...(insert some known phones)...may (or may not) be in (any) danger."Reply
Basically, more insight from Zak. :( -
chewy1963 It now a world that puts more value on how it 'looks' than how it 'works'. WTG Jobs, you've started a revolution in how patents are awarded!Reply -
halcyon Let them have it. More cool devices like the S3, Droid DNA, and Galaxy Notes for the rest of it. The iPhone is so tired once you've seen the competition.Reply -
Solandri Apple, however, was taken to court by Cisco Systems, who argued that it owned the rights to the name "iPhone" in the United States. Ultimately, though, the two firms settled in February 2007.
They didn't just argue it, they did own the rights.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linksys_iPhone
Apple was negotiating with Cisco for the rights to the name, but were unable to reach an agreement in time of the iPhone's public announcement. Jobs just went ahead with it, and the lawyers worked out transferring the rights afterwards. -
masterofevil22 Screw you apple. Deep and hard....Reply
U guys should should try and patent your buttholes and say you were the first ones to ever come up with the idea of taking a dump.