On July 17, 2008, the US Patent & Trademark Office published Apple’s retail packaging patent application. The patent specifically covers Apple’s entire iPod line-up including the shuffle, Nano, Classic and iPhone. The patent covers the transparent packaging whereby the holder suspends the item above a surface to give the item the appearance that it is floating within the packaging. While the main purpose of packaging is to protect the product during shipping, Apple explains, today’s competitive marketplace demands that the packaging be interesting and attractive on retail shelves. The importance of the iPod brand demands that the packaging be elegant. Jonathan Ive and Steve Jobs are amongst the credited designer/inventors.

Apple’s noted packaging patent illustrations above cover the iPhone, the iPod Classic, the iPod Shuffle and the iPod Nano in figures, 12, 7, 10, and 4 respectfully.

Apple lists Bartley K. Andre (Menlo Park, CA), Daniel J. Coster; (San Francisco, CA), Daniele De Iuliis (San Francisco, CA), Richard P. Howarth (San Francisco, CA), Jonathan P. Ive (San Francisco, CA), Steve Jobs (Palo Alto, CA), Duncan Robert Kerr (San Francisco, CA), Shin Nishibori (Portola Valley, CA), Matthew Dean Rohrbach (San Francisco, CA), Peter Russell-Clarke (San Francisco, CA), Douglas B. Satzger (Menlo Park, CA), Calvin Q. Seid (Palo Alto, CA), Christopher J. Stringer (Woodside, CA), Eugene Antony Whang (San Francisco, CA), Rico Zorkendorfer (San Francisco, CA), Vincent Keane Seid (Los Gatos, CA) as the inventors of this patent which was originally filed in August 2007.

NOTICE: MacNN presents only a brief summary of patents with associated graphic(s) for journalistic news purposes as each such patent application and/or grant is revealed by the U.S. Patent & Trade Office. Readers are cautioned that the full text of any patent applications and/or grants should be read in its entirety for further details.

Written and researched by Neo.