Last Updated on Friday, 9 November 2012 09:13 Written by dbhalling Friday, 9 November 2012 09:13

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The Daily Ticker has an article by Henry Blodget, entitled Apple’s New iPad Patent Reveals the Absurdity of Our Patent System.    Mr. Blodget and his guest Alexandre Montagu complain that Apple’s new patent covers rounded corners for the original iPad.  However, they fail to mention that the patent in question is a Design Patent, D670,286.  Clearly neither of these people know what a Design Patent is.  In the United States, a design patent is a patent granted on the ornamental design of a functional item. Note that a design patent does not have claims that point to specific features that make it patentable, it just points to the figures.  So it is their interpretation that it covers the rounded corners, but neither of them even knows the difference between a design patent and a utility patent.

Mr. Montagu is described as a “Patent Expert” on The Daily Ticker.  However, he is not a registered patent attorney.  He does not have a technical background.  It is amazing how many so called patent experts are not registered patent attorneys and do not have technical backgrounds.  Mr. Montagu has misrepresented himself.  In fact, no one in his firm is a patent attorney.

This is representative of the debate on patents.  People who do not even know the difference between a design patent and a utility patent are held out as experts to comment on the system.

 

 

Apple’s New iPad Patent Reveals the Absurdity of Our Patent System http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daily-ticker/apple-ipad-patent-reveals-absurdity-patent-system-143108743.html#more-id.