Microsoft is proud of the way Windows Phone 7 looks. Like, really, really proud. As in they spend 5 minutes telling us how proud they are of it every time they hold a press conference. That and the fact that the camera button works even when the handset is locked are totally (and deservedly) their two favorite talking points.
Lookin’ to make sure no one tries to pull off anything that too closely resembles their precious, Microsoft has just filed a trademark covering the look of the homescreen. So, take heed: if you were considering building an OS with a homescreen made up of a bunch of squares floating in a sea of black.. best tread carefully, bub, because Microsoft did it first. Well, except for iOS, but hey — those were icons, not tiles.