Apple’s New MacBook Air Wedge Design Patent Could Destroy Ultrabooks

Apple’s New MacBook Air Wedge Design Patent Could Destroy Ultrabooks


Apple has been awarded a patent for the wedge design of the MacBook Air. The definition of the design is broad enough to cover many ultrabooks, extending Apple’s apparent ownership of black rectangles to thin, vaguely katana-like triangles.

The design is defined by the solid lines in the patent drawings — the dotted lines are what Apple deems irrelevant to the overall patented design. So, really, any laptop that is wedged could fall into this category. Even machines like the new Lenovo Carbon X1, or the Dell XPS 13, both of which are substantially different from the MacBook Air but are shaped similarly. Ugh.

Here’s the thing, though. If we take Tim Cook at his word — let’s do that for the sake of argument — he doesn’t want to bludgeon everyone on patents. But given the landscape, it’s obliterate or be obliterated. It’s Larry Holmes beating up Muhammad Ali, begging the ref to call the fight. Or, you know, take the fight out back and blow it up with a nuclear warhead. [The Verge]


The Cheapest NBN 50 Plans

It’s the most popular NBN speed in Australia for a reason. Here are the cheapest plans available.

At Gizmodo, we independently select and write about stuff we love and think you'll like too. We have affiliate and advertising partnerships, which means we may collect a share of sales or other compensation from the links on this page. BTW – prices are accurate and items in stock at the time of posting.