On June 14, Beats announced their brand new Beats Studio Buds in an all new form factor compared to their previous designs. On Friday, October 10, the Hong Kong Patent Office granted Apple four design patents for the Beats Studio Buds case which was covered in a report yesterday. Today, our report covers three other design patents granted for buds alone.
Unlike “patent applications” which provide the public with a summary, summary and details of an invention, design patents published worldwide are limited to providing the public only with design patent numbers. No additional design specifics are available.
Beats Studio Buds
On Friday, Apple was granted three design patents for the Beats Studio Buds under numbers 2118231.4M001, .4M002 and .4M003. As you’ll notice below, there was no reference to “Beats” in the granted patent verbiage and the Beats “b” logo could not be found, which caused a temporary issue when setting up our graphics yesterday .
Below are the patent numbers for the full design patent shown in 2118231.4M001. Which means that every aspect of the buds is protected in this particular patent.
Along with Apple’s .4M001 design patent above covering the entire design of the Beats Studio buds, two additional design patents have also been granted which add additional but partial design coverage that Apple has described in black line art. Not all gray segments carry the additional protection.
Hong Kong Patent Office Granted (“Registered”) Design Patent Form
Below is the main part of the design patent form associated with Apple’s design patent granted by the Hong Kong Patent Office on Friday. The form does not reference Beats or feature the “b” brand/logo associated with the final product. Apple’s design patent expires on June 22, 2026.
