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Amazon Wins First Kindle Patent; Bigger Screen Expected Soon
An anonymous reader writes "One day before Amazon is scheduled to unveil its widescreen Kindle aimed at newspaper readers, the e-commerce giant has been awarded its first US patent for an e-book reader. The new patent, D591,741, is a design patent which protects the look and feel of the Kindle shell, not for fundamental technologies. Those patents are mostly held by E Ink Corp., which makes the 'liquidless paper' display. Sony, IBM, and the Discovery cable TV network also have e-book patents. Amazon, though the leading e-book seller, has none, but the patent award indicates they've applied for at least four recently." Also in Kindle news, PC World has a brief article up on the larger-screen Kindle DX (expected to launch Wednesday), including pictures first spotted on Engadget.
They protect the ornamental apperance of the device, and basically are a little bit more formal than trademark/trade dress. They are specifically precluded from protecting any functional or inventive aspect. Basically there's no story here.
Did you read your own link? That's copyright, not patent. Also, design patents protect fairly specific aesthetic aspects of the overall design, not the very general "look and feel" Apple was trying to protect.
Bobb9000 - raised by the wolves,
Oxford education as phrased by the wolves.
I don't see the problem. The previous Kindle's are made for reading digital versions of paperback books, while the new Kindle is geared towards digital versions of hardback books.
The only problem I have is that what do you do with a device that will be 10x13, cannot bend, and costs $300? I love my Kindle 2, but if you make it any bigger it just isn't portable anymore. I think flexible e-ink displays that can roll up/fold might be the salvation of newspapers, but the current style just won't cut it for the mainstream.