Apple uses a jailbroken iPhone in patent application

by Nilay Patel posted Mar 28th 2009 at 1:36AM

Uh oh Apple -- it looks like even your attorneys are dirty, thieving jailbreakers. Tipster a|e§ was poring through that iPhone biometric security patent application we posted earlier and noticed that the images show a jailbroken phone, complete with Installer.app, SMBPrefs, and the iWood Realize theme from the iSpazio repository. We're guessing the fine folks at Kramer, Levin Naftalis & Frankel are going to have some 'splainin to do on Monday morning -- but at least they get to run apps in the background.

Update: To those of you saying that this is in reference to one of the claims of the patent, we're not so sure -- there's no reason for Apple to use images of a jailbroken phone to make that specific point. Remember, somebody drew this picture, they didn't have to use these specific icons or this theme to illustrate Springboard variations.

[Thanks, a|e§]

Filed under: Handsets, Apple

Tags: apple, iphone, jailbreak, jailbroken, patent

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

Highly Ranked

Ivan @ Mar 27th 2009 10:06PM

hmmm i wonder what apple REALLY thinks about jail broken iphones....

Neutral

james @ Apr 6th 2009 7:39PM

while to answer your question, due to at&t paying apple a large sum of money to make it worth their while to make the iphone att only, unless you jailbrake your iphone you cant use it with any other cell service provider. meaning that anyone who wasnt willing to switch their service to at&t wouldnt be able to use an iphone, and thus wouldnt buy one, prejailbreak only of course. pretty much all it comes down to is jailbreak = more money for apple, and at&t getting screwed. not that that will stop them from making jailbreaking a warranty breaker, because its one more excuse to make more money, not that i can blame them. im pretty sure if you gave steve jobs a rock and told him there was a penny in it, he would squeeze more copper out of it then moses could water. seeing as how easy figuring out how to create the jailbreak software was, it begs the question, did apple leave this vunerablity on purpose or possibly even leak the original jailbreak sofware? i dont see any reason why they woudnt have, cuz if i was steve jobs, thats exactly what i would have done :)

Neutral

larry Friedman @ Mar 27th 2009 7:56PM

Damn, I was hoping one of my icons had made it on the patent app.

Highly Ranked

bernardino @ Mar 27th 2009 8:41PM

Has anyone patented the jailbreaking process?
Could it even be patented?

At first, from reading the title alone, that's what I think Apple was doing.

Neutral

bernardino @ Mar 27th 2009 8:42PM

I mean thought, not think.

Neutral

Codey H. @ Mar 28th 2009 10:24AM

Woz did it, so it's gotta be okay, right?

Neutral

Weckerly75 @ Mar 28th 2009 6:28PM

I read recently that there had been almost 200 downloads of the QuickPwn software traced to the apple.com domain. I'm quite sure all of those were for "research" purposes, right?

Neutral

Nemo @ Mar 29th 2009 3:26PM

Dear Ms. Patel: Apple's intellectual property is its property. Thus, it can do what it wants with its property within the bounds of the law. So, unless Apple violated some law or protected property interest, even if arguendo, it used some third party utility to modify the iPhone's UI, it has every legal right to do so. However, other, who do not have Apple's permission, can't use Apple's IP. So there is no irony, because there is no theft--no more theft than there would be if lent your car to a friend. However, if I take your car without your permission, that's theft. Get it. Most third graders get it.

Neutral