Apple Patents The iPhone. The ENTIRE iPhone.

We knew the House of Jobs was patent-crazy, but…wow.

Straight from the US Patent Office, a design patent for both the original iPhone and iPod Touch.  Interestingly, this patent focuses solely on the appearance (or, in patent-office legalese, ‚Äúthe ornamental design of an electronic device‚Äù), rather than the functionality or underlying technology. 

That means if your handheld device looks a little TOO iPhone-ish, expect a cease-and-desist from Apple's lawyers toot sweet. (Personally, if I were the Nexus One, HTC Hero, or Blackberry Storm, I'd be checking to see if there wasn't a big red bulls-eye on my back right about now…)

[Via MacStories]