OS X Dock Receives Patent

It took almost nine years, but Apple has finally received a patent for the Dock in OS X. Apple filed the patent in December 1999, but the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office didn’t get around to issuing the patent until October 7, 2008. Seems the USPTO might need a better computer system for managing applications.

The OS X Dock patent lists Steve Jobs, Donald Lindsay, and Bas Ording as the inventors. Apple initially describes the Dock as:

“Methods and systems for providing graphical user interfaces are described. To provide greater access and consolidation to frequently used items in the graphical user interface, a userbar is established which includes a plurality of item representations. To permit a greater number of items to reside in the userbar, a magnification function can be provided which magnifies items within the userbar when they are proximate the cursor associated with the graphical user interface.”

Now that Apple has the Dock patent in hand, developers of Dock imitators, which are commonly seen in utilities for Windows computers, might want to start looking over their shoulders for process servers. Apple is known to be very protective of its intellectual property.