Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) Wins iPad Design Patent, Loses Patent Dispute Against Virtnetx (VHC)

Apple Inc.(NASDAQ:AAPL) has been granted another patent by the US Patent and Trademark Office for the iPad’s ornamental design, as reported by ArsTechnica. The patent in question, D607,286 happens to focus on the rounded, rectangular frame of the iPad, using a diagram in which the subject design is projected with a continuous line.

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The examiner cites quite a few previous devices in her research, like early HP tablets and photo frames. He also has drawn comparison against features that are not directly relevant to the patent like the placement of cameras and home buttons on the iPad, in contrast with Samsung Galaxy tablets.

It was earlier this year when Apple had tried to manipulate a similar patent, D504,889, as one of its primary weapon in a litigation against Samsung. Apple eventually won the case, acquiring a verdict of $1.05 billion as damages. However, the presiding Judge, Lucy Koh had withdrawing a preliminary sanction she had issued against Samsung’s Galaxy Tab 10.1. This is because the jury had decided that the tablet did not infringe the ‘889 patent. We are yet to see if the ‘286 petition could be implemented against Samsung or any other tablet manufacturer.

In other news, Apple reportedly has suffered a loss of $348 million after losing a legal patent dispute with VirnetX Holding Corporation(NYSEAMEX:VHC) in a Texas court. The case had started back in April of last year when VirtnetX had blamed Apple of violating the US patent 8,05,181. VirtnetX has also filed a similar grievance with the ITC stating the Apple’s Mac, iPad and iPhone also infringe its patents.

VirtnetX has already been declared victorious in a similar case against Microsoft and it was able to successfully reach a settlement amounting to $200 million with a software and hardware giant based in Redmond. VirtnetX has also targeted companies like Avaya, Siemes and Cisco.