14 DAY TRIAL // One of the best things about Microsoft's Zune is its "doubleshot" casing. The edges of the case have a translucent glow of a different color than that of the rest of the casing.
The device is usually either light black, chocolate brown or pearl white, but there were few limited-edition pieces made in red, pink and orange. This "doubleshot" casing is somewhat iconic to Zune and a very appreciated design detail.
Funny thing. Looks like Apple might be granted full patent for this Microsoft Zune casing. Last week USPTO published Apple patent application 20070048470 that names a "Housing of an electronic device formed by doubleshot injection molding".
This is the only published patent for the doubleshot plastic molding process and if it were to be granted to Apple, Microsoft will have to pay Apple for every Zune device they sell.
Apple filed this patent on the 16th of August, 2005. The patent describes a multi-wall plastic-injected casing that can be used for "forming internal features on the inside surfaces". This is seen in the Zune casing, but also in Apple hardware such as the MacBook, iMac or iPods (both black and white plastics).
Oddly, Microsoft pays Universal a small fee for every Zune player sold. They could soon be facing the humiliating situation of also having to pay Apple such a fee for using their doubleshot casing patent for Zune players.
Still, the Cupertino-based company would not profit much from the iPod-wannabe's back, if such a situation occurred. Zune sales are considerably lower than those of Apple's player. COO Tim Cook confirmed last week the 90 million figure and reports show Apple sold 21 million iPods over the last quarter alone.