If you were planning to construct a cube-shaped glass building sometime soon, don't bother: Apple has scored a federal patent for the iconic cube design of its flagship store on Fifth Avenue.
Good for 14 years, the patent approved this week by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office protects the Manhattan store's "ornamental design," while Apple has also trademarked the glass staircases inside its stores, TIME reported.
The Cupertino, Calif.-based company first filed for the flagship store design patent in 2012.
Gizmodo notes that Apple has received a patent for the distinctive design of the Fifth Avenue building but not an actual trademark, which Apple applied for regarding the structure in 2010 and hasn't yet been granted.
Also in 2012, Apple applied for a patent on its Shanghai store design, which is clear and cylindrical in shape. That patent was granted right away, but the cube-shaped Manhattan store apparently had to wait for two years.
Former Apple CEO Steve Jobs is listed as an inventor in the cube design patent along with six other designers. Jobs, who died in 2011, reportedly funded the building of the cube-shaped Apple store and owned it, according to TIME.
The 32-foot building was remodeled for $6.7 million in 2011, an undertaking that took it from 90 glass panels to just 15 for a more streamlined appearance, TIME reported via Apple Insider.
The other inventors behind the building are Karl Backus, Peter Bohlin, Robert Bridger, Benjamin L. Fay and James O'Callaghan.
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