Apple granted patent for Smart Cover
Patent Wars…Sound like a reality series from History Channel or Discovery channel, and certainly has enough fake drama to qualify. Apple was just granted a whole bunch of new patents to use in its war against everyone else, and among the more interesting ones is a patent for the Smart Cover. The patent actually references some iPad 1 cases that used the folding style before the Smart Cover did, but apparently Apple still got the patent for the case.
To me, this is both fair and a pity at the same time. I love the Smart Cover and I wish it was available for other devices, but at the same time I think Apple deserves to keep it as its own since it came up with it. Asus has tried to make a similar cover for its Transformer Prime though, but it’s not magnetic and uses a different style for folding the cover. With this patent in place that pretty much puts a definite stop to anyone else ever making something exactly like the Smart Cover. I have to wonder what this does to TidyTilt though, and I’d hate to see a Kickstarter project be hunted by Apple.
[Patently Apple]
