Besides, almost all of these patents seem to protect the ornamental design rather than the utility. Most people here don't object to patenting the design of cases and the like.
Though I'm now beginning to wonder. Could someone copyright the design of cases and sue for copyright infringement/plagiarism? Or would that open up an even worse can of worms?
That's exactly what's happening between Apple and Samsung in Europe and elsewhere, right now. Apple complains that the Galaxy tablet is physically too similar to the iPad.
I don't know enough about patents, but Jobs was definitely obsessed with the "out of the box" experience and wanted Apple products to be unlike anyone else's products in that regard.
I remember having a 12" Powerbook delivered to my Windows-using office - everyone gathered round to look at the packaging - and then were amazed when the computer was up and running, and connected to the internet, within two minutes.
Why is packaging covered by patents instead of trademark or copyright? It's not like a slight alteration to the inserts in a box is unique innovation. I honestly don't understand how patents are the right thing to apply to packaging. What am I missing?
A trademark protects a mark that would cause confusion about the source of a product if it was used by another person/company. That is, it would protect any branding on the package, rather than the design of the package itself.
There is a certain degree of overlap with copyright, but: (1) for copyright to be infringed, the infringing item has to be a copy of the original; and (2) the subject of a design patent must have a certain degree of functionality and not be purely aesthetic (as copyright can be). A design patent can be infringed by a substantially similar design, rather than an exact copy.
Design patents are very different to utility patents. In the examples here, it's purely the ornamental design applied to packaging that's being protected, not the functional aspects of the packaging itself.
Right, thank you. It sounds like it waters down the lay concept of patents, which is "I came up with something truly new and original", and should more like copyright in that it's more about preventing plagiarism.
