Apple's New York City store on 5th Avenue has become a pretty iconic piece of architecture. It was built in 2006 and contains 15 glass panels.
The late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs helped design the building himself.
And now that design has been patented; the paperwork was filed in 2012, but the actual patent was granted just this week. Apple likely decided to pursue the patent because it has a history of getting copied.
A couple years ago in China, three stores gained attention for imitating Apple stores. Yep, they had logos and everything.
And in 2012 a Chinese firm introduced the GooPad. Look familiar?
Now, Apple is not the first to make a glass building. Architect Philip Johnson famously built a glass house in the 1940s.
But, Apple says what they don't want anyone to do is build another glass cube. That's a concept the company says they came up with, and now they've got the documents to prove it.
And other businesses can't copy the interior of Apple stores, either. Apple's legal team put a patent on that last year.
This story includes images from Getty Images.
