Samsung has issued an unusual statement in response to the launch of a third-party iPad Smart Cover made for its Galaxy Tab 10.1. In the statement Samsung has denied any involvement with Anymode stating that the company used its branding without its permission, and they want to make sure that everyone knows that they distance themselves from the imitation of what is a patented Apple design.

Samsung doesn’t need to be fighting a war on another front since they are currently in the middle of a serious ITC patent infringement dispute with Apple already.

During an earnings conference call last year, Steve Jobs hinted that Apple had tested several designs for the iPad during its development process. One of these possible designs may have surfaced in a patent application recently approved by the USPTO and now we get to see what might have been.

This patent shows off a Wi-Fi+3G iPad with an extra USB slot for landscape connectivity. The auxiliary USB slot would let you place the iPad in a dedicated landscape dock and dock it in portrait mode while syncing using both slots. Apple holds a patent for the design, but we will likely never see this in an upcoming iPad model. Still, it always nice to see how things might have been.

A new rumor suggests that the iPhone 5 will have an aluminum back to replace the iPhone 4′s glass back. Along with the new chassis, there will also be a redesigned antenna that does away with the external design in the iPhone 4. You might remember that this issue led to Antennagate.

The new antenna will put the iPhone’s antennas back into the Apple logo, similar to the way the Wi-Fi iPad housed its antennas. There was even a patent that turned up recently that suggested Apple was working with Apple logo antennas for the iPhone, so this makes sense. I guess we will find out soon enough.

Apple has already tested the waters of social networking via its Ping music-sharing service and now the company has filed for a patent that details a social networking tool for brick-and-mortar shopping. It allows iPhone owners to share comments, opinions and recommendations about any product. The store would allow customers to access a product list from their phone, which can then be shared through the social network, where you can do things like ask friends for approval or rejection of the item, or get feedback.

The patent also lets users create a community discussion, communicate and share easily with friends, without them having to be physically present.

Apple is a patent filing monster. Let’s face it, they have a patent for everything. The latest patent app to surface from Apple has the name of many of the members of the iPhone team on it and once the app is approved, it will have the Apple name applied to the final patent.

The patent app details a new way that Apple wants to put antennas behind logos on their products. So in the future, your iPhone antenna might be behind the Apple logo. The antennas will be used on notebooks, phones, and other devices. This is one that we will likely see come to pass at some point soon.

The HyperMac batteries from Sanho Corporation are a popular external batterie choice for several Apple devices. Problem is, Apple doesn’t really like them. Apple has sued the company over six patents related to MagSafe and the iPod.

The company claims to use original Apple MagSafe connectors to ensure compatibility, and obviously that connector is a proprietary connector. Instead of mimicking Apple’s patented MagSafe connectors, Sanho’s products actually rely on recycled official MagSafe products made by Apple.

Sure, you have your choice of third-party iPad protective cases available, but Apple has a nicely functional iPad case of its own, and China’s patent office has now accepted Apple’s patent design for this iPad case. About time I guess.

The design has a microfiber interior and reinforced panels to provide some structure. As shown above, the case can fold down to double as a stand so you can type out emails easily. Looks a bit like a Trapper Keeper.

Now we have more drama in the Apple antenna saga. Bloomberg says that someone “familiar with the matter” claims Apple’s own antenna expert, Ruben Caballero, told Apple management that the iPhone 4 antenna design could cause problems and dropped calls.

Caballero is a senior engineer for Apple who holds many antenna patents under his belt. We don’t know the whole story but it is the latest twist to this sorted tale and suggests that Steve Jobs had been alerted to this problem during the design phase.

There have been a number of lawsuits filed against Apple in the years since the iPhone debuted. Many of the suits were for alleged patent infringement. One of the early suits was against Apple and AT&T over the exclusive deal for the iPhone.

The suit was recently granted class action status, which means anyone who purchased an iPhone all the way back to June 29, 2007 is part of the suit. The core allegation is that consumers who entered into the 2-year agreement were actually in a five-year agreement due to the exclusive deal with AT&T.

I like running across patent applications from companies like Apple because they give us a glimpse at the kind of tech our gadgets will offer in the future. A new patent app has surfaced that Apple filed last year for haptic feedback called “Multi touch with Multi Haptics.”

The app outlines a way that Apple could provide haptic feedback for touchscreen devices like the iPhone and iPad. The patent has a bunch of haptic actuators around the screen under the surface.

I bet that there are lots of you who have tried to use biometrics to log into your gadgets or computers before and had a hard time. I know the notebook I used to have with a fingerprint scanner rarely let me login when swiping my finger.

Apple has a new biometric sensor patent application that has surfaced that shows a method Apple has envisioned to allow only authorized users to access future iPhones. The sensors in the case of the phone would read the users heart rate and use the readings to verify their identity.

Apple never sleeps. They are always filing interesting patents. Like this patent for iTravel. The idea is that it turns your iPhone into a device that can handle all your travel needs. It would allow you to search for and book flights right from your iPhone.

You can then share that information with your iPhone contacts if you like, or set it so that you receive travel updates via SMS or push messages. The app could use RFID, so that your boarding pass is stored on your iPhone and can be scanned using QR codes or an RFID chip.

Details have come to light regarding a new Apple patent which could see the iPhone and iPod Touch used as digital tickets for concerts and events. The patent was filed in September 2008 and reveals that the system would use near field communications technology. Your iPhone or iPod would be simply swiped allowing you to enter the concert or event.

Rumor is that if you like the show and are a female, you can also use your iPhone to digitally throw a pair of panties not onstage, but from your iPhone to the band’s iPhone. Okay, I made that part up, but it certainly opens up some interesting possibilities.

Looks like Apple is getting into the 3d game too. And why not. Everyone is doing it, good idea or not. Apple has a patent application for a “Head-Mounted Display Apparatus For Retaining a Portable Electronic Device With Display”.

It was filed back in August of 2008 and the idea was that it would be a wearable display capable of streaming A/V content from a pocketable device. Like maybe, I don’t know, an iPod maybe? It would all be wireless and feature “stereoscopic imaging”.

On Tuesday Apple filed complaints with both the U.S. International Trade Commission and a federal court in Delaware seeking to stop the import, sales and use of some phones made by Taiwanese manufacturer HTC. The complaint suggests that HTC has infringed on patents owned by Apple with a number of their mobile handsets, all which rely on Google’s Android operating system.

The mobile devices in question include the Pro Touch, TouchPro 2, Touch Diamond, myTouch 3G, Tilt II, Pure, Imago, T-Mobile G1, Hero, Droid Eris, HD2 and of course Google’s own Nexus One which was also made by HTC. As many as 10 of the 20 accused violations involve the Nexus One, which brings up some speculation. Since Apple is targeting Android-based mobile devices with HTC, they could be gearing up to go after Google directly with the Android operating system. Not all of the patent infringement complaints by Apple involve the Android OS, however.