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PatentBrief

Company Portfolio

Apple Computer Inc

60

Portfolio strength

Strong portfolio

Patents indexed

5

Year range

1979 – 2005

consumer_electronicssoftwaresemiconductors

Patent Activity by Year

1979
1
1994
1
1996
1
1999
1
2005
1

Key Inventors

Daniele De Iuliis1Steve Jobs1Douglas B. Satzger1Matthew Dean Rohrbach1Rico Zörkendörfer1Shin Nishibori1Eugene Anthony Whang1Richard P. Howarth1

All Patents

5

Career timeline

5 patents, 1979–2005

Dot size = forward citations

197919841989199520002005

Hover or tap any dot to see the patent. Larger dots indicate more forward citations — a proxy for downstream influence.

Compare their top 4 patents →
US 5303388·1994

How 3D Icons Rotate to Show More Information

A 1994 Apple patent for a 3D computer icon that can be rotated by clicking specific areas to reveal different sides, each containing extra information about a file or folder.

US D504889·2005

The Design Patent for the Original iPod Mini

This is a design patent protecting the specific physical appearance and shape of Apple's iPod Mini, which helped define the look of portable music players in the mid-2000s.

US 5559942·1996

How Digital Sticky Notes Work Inside Computer Programs

A 1993 Apple patent for attaching digital sticky notes to documents so they move and behave like regular text or images within an application.

US 4136359·1979

How Wozniak Made the Apple II Display Color Graphics

Steve Wozniak's 1977 patent for a circuit that allowed a home computer to display stable, sharp color graphics on a standard television screen.

US 5946647·1999

How Computers Automatically Detect and Act on Data Like Phone Numbers

Apple's 1999 patent describing how software can automatically recognize patterns like phone numbers or dates in text and offer relevant actions like calling or scheduling.

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