PUBLIC MARKS with tags apple & ux

(MoneyWatch) Yet another technology pundit has lauded Apple (AAPL) for patenting a widely used feature in mobile devices that ostensibly will let the consumer electronics giant pound tablet and smartphone rivals into submission. Looking at a recent design patent awarded to Apple, the New York Times' Nick Bilton declares that the company "now owns the page turn." The "turn" is the animation that makes it look as though you're turning a physical page when reading an e-book or some other electronic document.

If you want to know just how broken the patent system is, just look at patent D670,713, filed by Apple and approved this week by the United States Patent Office. This design patent, titled, “Display screen or portion thereof with animated graphical user interface,” gives Apple the exclusive rights to the page turn in an e-reader application. Yes, that’s right. Apple now owns the page turn. You know, as when you turn a page with your hand. An “interface” that has been around for hundreds of years in physical form. I swear I’ve seen similar animation in Disney or Warner Brothers cartoons.