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Another Garbage Patent

Posted by chrisd on from the oh-come-on-now dept.

*no comment* writes "Literally "garbage patent" that is, Apple was rewarded a patent for the "Garbage" icon in Mac OS X. The patent documents can be found at the USPTO by clicking here. More on this and other Apple patents are in this article over at the macobserver."

2 of 559 comments (clear)

  1. Re:necessary evil... by Minna+Kirai · · Score: 4, Interesting

    Things like Instant Messaging and weighted search results are of such obviously high usefulness that they would be invented, regardless of the inventor thinking he would be able to get patent protection.

    In fact, your very example has disproved you, for ICQ very willingly invented and published "Instant Messenging" techniques without any protection, and there were many immediate copies (AOL, Microsoft, and others). Yet, even knowing they had no way to prevent clones, Mirabilis still went ahead and created the field.

  2. Design Patent by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Interesting

    This may be a design patent; however according to this, "a design which simulates a well known, or naturally occurring object or person is not original as required by the statute."


    I think a trash can might be a well known object.