This will stir up some controversy in the market: handset and accessory manufacturer Hop-on says has been awarded a design patent for some widely-used mobile phone functions, what it says is an MP3 phone: “MP3 Phone with speakers on the side, in addition to front and side buttons to activate its camera/video features.”
The company plans to seek royalties from the major handset players…it said in a statement that it “will be seeking royalties from previous and future sales of this design; there have been millions of similar phones sold on the market.”
But as Arstechnica says, design patents–as opposed to utility patents–only cover ornamental shape and layout, meaning that unless manufacturers are mirroring an identical visual design, they are not infringing on the patent.
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