During the recent and ongoing patent war between Apple and Samsung, Apple had claimed that Samsung infringed on their patent which covered rectangular devices with rounded corners. One would think how can you patent a shape? Well, Apple was actually granted their patent earlier this month. Patent no. D670,286 covers the outer edge shape of a device—basically a rectangle with rounded corners.
The USPTO issued the patent for the “ornamental design for a portable display device” which as we have noted, is the rectangular shape with rounded edges. Patents on shapes, colors, sounds and even smells are not totally uncommon as noted in Weston Anson’s book IP Valuation and Management.There’s the shape of a Coca-Cola bottle, triangle and circular shaped paper clips, stylus pen tip shapes. And even Microsoft’s Xbox and LucasFilm’s Yoda shapes are patented. But it does seem unusual for such a commonly used shape to be granted a patent, even though it is an ornamental design feature. Is the circle or a sphere next? What about a triangle or pyramid? Or even a heart?
So what happens now? How many devices do you have in your household that is rectangular with rounded corners, and not an Apple product? We know most households have something – smartphones, tablets, e-readers, etc. Are all those products now infringing on Apple’s design? Are we looking at litigation chaos? What effect will this Apple patent have on future innovation? And finally CONSOR asks: How do you place value on a shape?
As a reality check, the Apple patent may not necessarily mean ongoing billable hours for their attorneys. Wired noted that Lea Shaver, Associate Professor at Indiana University’s McKinney School of Law, said that “This design patent gives Apple no new advantage, because no one is out there trying to market an iPad lookalike.” Nevertheless, we are stunned that the USPTO gave Apple a pretty broad design patent. Remember what Samsung had commented during litigation proceedings (when the patent was still pending), that it was “unfortunate that patent law can be manipulated to give one company a monopoly over rectangles with rounded corners.”
Lesson here: when you’re teaching your young children how to draw shapes, make sure their rectangles have pointed edges.