Re: Apple invented nothing
Th curved corners are what the US calls a "design patent" and we, more logically, call a "registered design". The rules include that a registered design must "be new". You cannot include anything inventive in a registered design.
So a fake prop from a sci fi show is definitely prior art for a design, as it does not need to be functional and it has been widely published.
I believe it took the Australian patent office to allow the patenting of the wheel. Of course at the time it actually was novel in Australia (snark). But it can't be patented anywhere else. Just because no explicit patent exists for a wheel in the US or the EU doesn't matter, because other patents contain wheels as part of mechanisms.
Biting the hand that feeds IT
