Citing the decision as an example of "just how broken the patent system is," the New York Times Bits blog reported the U.S. Patent Office has approved Apple's digital page-turn patent application (D670,713: "Display screen or portion thereof with animated graphical user interface"), giving the company exclusive rights to the page turn in an e-reader application. The patent was filed last December.
Bits blogger Nick Bilton expressed skepticism regarding the decision: "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. (This is where readers are probably checking the URL of this article to make sure it's the New York Times and not the Onion.)"
