A Well Rounded Education

As is well known, I've not been a fan of Jobs, his Reality Distortion Field, or Apple in general. The fact is, Apple has been an assembler of Other People's Parts from the get-go, just like most of the rest of the small computer (and compute device) sector. Unusually adept marketing is their value add.

The iPhone design patent is especially galling. Today it is reported that USPTO may be willing to revisit the blunder.

Now, in a new twist, examiners at the U.S. Patent Office have had second thoughts. In an August ruling, they agreed to consider new prior art evidence, which led them to a commonsense conclusion: the rounded rectangles design is obvious, and should not have been granted a patent in the first place.

Capitalists regularly rant that bureaucrats are stupid, incompetent, low lifes who should be left to starve in the desert. Except, of course, when their stupid incompetence grants market monopoly. And obscene infringement awards.