#Apple Granted Key #IPhone Patents

The patent for the integrated touchscreen, which Apple originally filed in September 2009, describes a way to stack touch-sensitive circuits to the pixels of an LCD display, making phones that are 'thinner, brighter and require less power.' This could make it difficult for other companies, who came out with their own thin, bright smartphones in later years, to claim Apple stole their patents, since Apple has had its own patent for the technology pending for nearly two years.

Meanwhile, Apple's Steve Jobs and Senior Vice President Scott Forstall filed for the voice mail patent on June 28, 2007, just one day before the first iPhone launched. The patent details Apple's visual voice mail system, including the option to pick a voice mail message from a list and control its playback.

The voicemail manager system is part of several lawsuits that have been settled in recent years. Klausner Technologies sued not only Apple, but AT&T and Verizon over the patent, which covers selectively listening to voice mails. Apple, AT&T and Verizon all later settled with Klausner, and the company's patents are now listed in the newly granted patent's references section.