There is a difference between trademark and patent.
But Apple has a patent on making something that replaces a pad of paper look like a pad of paper - shouldn't a similar arguement apply?
But Apple has a patent on making something that replaces a pad of paper look like a pad of paper - shouldn't a similar arguement apply?
From what I read, the mere aggregation of existing things is not of itself considered patentable. It doesn't make sense to me that anyone would consider the removal of knobs or buttons to be worthy of patent protection. (But then again, almost nothing about the patent system makes sense to me.)