When Steve Jobs said that Apple patents everything it can, he wasn't kidding because the company from Cupertino was just that were registered to him no less than 40 patents related to iOS, iDevices, Macs and the Shanghai store. All these patents were registered at the Chinese Patent and Trademark Agency and 33 of them are related to iOS, iPhone terminals and iPod Nano. Apple has patented in China a good part of the inventions that have already been patented in other parts of the world and all with the idea of protecting itself against copycats that manufacture various clones of iDevices.
The vast majority of Apple's latest round of design patent wins in China covers all-things iPhone. Specifically, the design patents cover various user interface (UI) elements from the iPhone's app dock to varying views of an open productivity folder to phone-specific elements covering such things as mute, keypad, speaker, FaceTime and so forth. The designs also covered icons covering Game Center, two-camera views and one relating to playing music.
Of course, iOS and iDevices would not be the only ones patented in China because the MacBook Air was registered at the patent and trademark office in China. Along with it, Apple also registered the design of the store in Shanghai and some elements of iAd to ensure that it will not see clones of its online advertising service. Of course, these registers could be useless considering that China is a territory where intellectual property has very little value.
