Apple's helpful guidelines for competitors to avoid patent infringement(Ya Think?)

IT World ^ | 12/05/11 | Chris Nerney

[TigerLikesRooster]

Apple's helpful guidelines for competitors to avoid patent infringement

As long as rival tablets and smartphones don't look anything like tablets or smartphones, everything's cool

By Chris Nerney 6 comments

December 05, 2011, 3:03 PM —

/snip

For the iPhone design, alternative smartphone designs include: front surfaces that are not black or clear; front surfaces that are not rectangular, not flat, and without rounded corners; display screens that are more square than rectangular or not rectangular at all; display screens that are not centered on the front surface of the phone and that have substantial lateral borders; speaker openings that are not horizontal slots with rounded ends and that are not centered above the display screen; front surfaces that contain substantial adornment; and phones without bezels at all or very different looking bezels that are not thin, uniform, and with an inwardly sloping profile.

[A]lternate tablet computer designs include: overall shapes that are not rectangular with four flat sides or that do not have four rounded corners; front surfaces that are not completely flat or clear and that have substantial adornment; thick frames rather than a thin rim around the front surface; and profiles that are not thin relative to the D’889 or that have a cluttered appearance.

/snip

* All other smartphones and tablets must be made of materials not found on Earth.

* No "on" or "off" buttons.

* Rechargeable batteries allowed, but recharging them is prohibited.

* Device screens must be opaque.

* All communications functions allowed, with the exception of phone calls and texting.

* All online activities allowed, with the exception of Internet access.

* No rival device product names can contain the letters "a," "p," "l" or "e." In fact, just to be safe, all vowels should be avoided.

[TigerLikesRooster]

You can't make this up.

[Jonty30]

It’s all about trying to corner the market for as long as possible. Apple is expected to fall to a consistent 20 percent of the market in how many Iphones and tablets it sells.

They’re just fighting that as much as possible.

[paudio]

OK. I almost bite it, but the above list actually is not from Apple. It's from the author of this article. This is what Apple is suggesting:

For the iPhone design, alternative smartphone designs include: front surfaces that are not black or clear; front surfaces that are not rectangular, not flat, and without rounded corners; display screens that are more square than rectangular or not rectangular at all; display screens that are not centered on the front surface of the phone and that have substantial lateral borders; speaker openings that are not horizontal slots with rounded ends and that are not centered above the display screen; front surfaces that contain substantial adornment; and phones without bezels at all or very different looking bezels that are not thin, uniform, and with an inwardly sloping profile. [A]lternate tablet computer designs include: overall shapes that are not rectangular with four flat sides or that do not have four rounded corners; front surfaces that are not completely flat or clear and that have substantial adornment; thick frames rather than a thin rim around the front surface; and profiles that are not thin relative to the D’889 or that have a cluttered appearance.

[paudio]

Apple loses iPad trademark in China

[HiTech RedNeck]

Looks like a Chinese company anticipated far enough ahead to trademark “iPad” in 2000, well before there were Apple iPads. But then, Apple made a deal with the company years later to buy the trademark, except oops they welshed on it and sued Apple, and the durn Chinese court ruled against Apple!

And guess where they’re made, it ain’t in France.

You can get burned in the Chinese wok if you’re not careful.

[rawhide]

[Vaquero]

got this new I-phone 4s thing Wednesday via UPS....set it up Thursday with ATT...

now...Christmas eve, I am ready to send it back.

guess its time for a Jitterbug or other Geriatric phone...

can Depends be very far behind?