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Originally Posted by fjtorres

Apple may or not have innovated in designing the iPxxx line but it looks like they are innovating in the IP protection field:

http://gigaom.com/2012/08/01/ilegal-...-protect-them/

So design patents for electronics is a new thing:

Apple’s custom-built legal strategy can be seen in the unusual legal arrows it’s using to sling Samsung. The company’s dramatic accusations that Samsung “slavishly copied” the design of the iPad and iPhone, for instance, are based on a type of patent (called “design patents“) unfamiliar even to most intellectual property lawyers.

Far less common than conventional “utility patents,” design patents protect the ornamental aspects of a practical object. According to law professor Sarah Burstein of the University of Oklahoma, design patents were traditionally limited to fields like furniture and lighting until Apple began obtaining them for consumer electronics.

“It’s a credit to Apple and its patent counsel who made progress in getting them through clever claiming,” said Burstein, who specializes in design patents.

Do Televisions, computer, laptop or even cars have design patent? (rounded corner, rectangle shapes or whatnot...)