In yesterday’s patent report, I pointed out a weird Apple patent for “a steering device for an articulated vehicle.”
Why was that strange? An articulated vehicle has a permanent or semi-permanent pivoting joint in its construction, allowing the vehicle to turn more sharply. There are a variety of articulated vehicles, from tanks to heavy equipment to buses, trams and trains.
Sorry, but there’s no iTank or iBus in the future (well, as far as I know). As noted by The MacObserver, the law firm handling patents for Apple says the patent was accidentally assigned to the wrong company thanks to a clerical error.
The Morrison and Foerster law firm filed a Request for Certification of Correction on Aug. 9stating Apple was unintentionally named as the patent assignee due to a “typographical error.” The patent actually belongs to military vehicle maker BAE Systems.