Apple originally filed the design patent of its first wearable in August 2014 at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO).
To keep things as private as possible, Apple labeled its patent with the words "Electronic device." One month later, the company announced the Apple Watch and subsequently brought it to nine countries during its official launch in April 2015.
The Apple Watch requires an iPhone 5 or later iPhone device in order to run basic apps and receive notifications. It is the company's first venture into the wearables market, which, according to analysts, has created a spark that makes the industry absolutely more exciting and perhaps even glamorous. Famous personalities such as Beyonce and Katy Perry have both bee seen sporting customized editions of the watch on social media sites.
"Selecting a watch is very personal," says Apple on its official site. "As with all things you wear, how it looks is at least as important as what it does. So we set out to make Apple Watch something you'll love to use every day. As well as something you can't wait to put on every morning."
The patent simply consists of nine line drawings showing the Apple Watch's body. The first shows the bottom front perspective view of the watch that bears the company's new design. Two more pictures show perspective views of the Watch on its rear and top front. The rest show a number of views, including the Watch's front, rear, left, right, top and bottom. There's also an explanation of the oblique shade lines that appear in the Figures, which, according to Apple, refer to a surface that's shiny, reflective or transparent.
Likewise, the patent includes a number of references to other smartwatches that are rivals of Apple's first wearable. These include the Pebble, the Metawatch and Samsung's Galaxy Gear. Even luxury brands such as the Hermes Carre H Watch, which carries a price tag of $15,000 and bears a rounded-square design akin to the Apple Watch, is mentioned in the filing.
While the patent gives Apple exclusive ownership to the Watch's design and prevents other companies from copying it, it doesn't include preventing them from creating similar products. According to the official documentation of the patent filing, Apple's exclusive design property of the Watch has a duration of 14 years.
