Patent struggles may keep this MagSafe-like hdphone adapter from being made

I’ve always thought ’s magneticMagSafepower connector was an inious piece of tech. In fact, I was hoping to see them include it in the iPhone 5 and other iOS products. But obviously, that wish never materialized.DesignerJon Pattersonis still trying to make it happen, though, with the Pogo, a MagSafe-like magnetic connector for your iPhone. He’s only using it for hd right now, but he says it’ll likely work for power cords too…The Vergereports:“Pogo consists of two parts, a 3.5mm jack, which plugs into your device’s hdphone port, and a 3.5mm port, which you plug your regular hd into. The two pieces are held together by a neodymium magnet and four “pogo” pins, which allow signal to pass through but also disconnect if you pull hard on the wire. In a concept , Patterson envisions users having multiple Pogo jacks plugged into different devices, allowing you to plug your hd into a of devices without fussing with the connectors.”And here’s the concept :Unfortunately, that’s all the Pogo is right now, a concept. Patterson says that all he has right now is a non-working prototype crted using a 3D printer. Sure, he’d like to develop it further, but he’s worried about patent infringement.Thus far, Patterson hasn’t received a response from companies holding patents that Pogo could infringe on. So while he has big plans for the project, he doesn’t think he’ll ever get the green-light from “aggressive” patent-holders.And that’s too bad, because if I ever saw the Pogo on a site likeKickstarter, I’d back it in a hrtbt. It just goes to show you how badly the current patent system needs to be reformed. It’s supposed to protect innovation, not suppress it.What do you think of the Pogo?