Apple Patents Wraparound Edge-Mounted iPhone Displays With Virtual Buttons

Let's be honest now: how often do you see a patent and think to yourself, "Gosh, this patent is really complicated and the text is just not explanatory enough, I really wish I had some code or flowcharts to make it clearer!"

Most patents (software or otherwise) are of a complexity where a person of ordinary skill in the art can re-implement it from scratch with a fair level of fidelity by reading just the abstract. Triviality of implementation is not the same as obviousness. And just because software makes it very easy to go from idea to implementation does not mean it's not an invention.

Let me try: First-to-invent vs. First-to-file deals with the specific case where two parties invent the same thing at roughly the same time and then file patents on it. The US was one of the few countries that was "first to invent". What that meant is, if you invent something, and then later somebody else invents the exact same thing independently, but the other party files the patent before you, you would still get the patent. As long as you had solid proof of the date of invention, invention of course.

So, if you invent something today and filed a patent next week, you could still get a patent over somebody else who independently thought of it and filed for a patent tomorrow, as long as you had proof. That's because you were the "first to invent".

Today, however, the other party would get the patent because they were "first to file", even if you have all the proof on the world showing you were first.

Seems unfair? It sort of is, so why the change? Because 1) it's what the rest of the world does, and 2) it happened so very infrequently and the hassle of resolving it was relatively so great, that the US optimized for the common case and got rid of it completely.

Note that prior art is entirely orthogonal to all this. It still applies to all patent applications as before. In this case, if prior art exists that pre-dates both parties' dates of invention / filing, both would end up without patents

Honestly I miss plastic. So slandered, but it grips nicely, doesn't tend to shatter, and is really cheap to replace if it does break. It also takes more of the brunt of a fall than metal or glass, saving the glass on the other side more effectively.

I am unfortunately still using a glass backed phone (Nexus 4), though. Wish I'd waited for the Nexus 5.

I think we're talking past each other. There's nothing about the iPhone 5s I find especially slippery, but I need a case for purposes orthogonal to yours.