T he New York Times has picked up on the story that swept the Mac Web last week regarding Appleis color-changing casings. The story revolves around a patent filed by Apple for a way of making dynamic color-changing casings for electronic devices (see TMOis coverage for more information), but the New York Times had something to add to the story today. According to the paper, Apple worked with another company called Color Kinetics on the project in 2001, until Apple backed out of the deal. From the NY Times:
Apple Computer is known for its splashy computer designs, and there has been a notable buzz among the Macintosh faithful since the the Patent and Trademark Officeis Web site published an Apple patent application several weeks ago.
[...]
Neither Apple nor Color Kinetics executives would comment on the seemingly dueling patent applications. But several people close to the companies said that in 2001, Color Kinetics had worked extensively with Apple on the concept, only to have Apple back out of a deal at the last moment. The true illumination of the matter may need to await action by the patent Office.
You can find more in the full article, including information on how both companies have filed what amounts to competing patents, and the fact that Color Kinetics filed first.