No, they patented a plastic shell containing buttons which charge capacitive screen inputs but do not rely on transference. In other words, they can be used with gloves or anything else that inhibits capacitive touch.

They cited about a zillion other patents for plastic cases with capacitive buttons (physical keyboard attachments, etc.).

This is a perfectly acceptable usage of the patent system.

Read it for yourself: patents.google.com/patent/US20180275769A1/en?oq=2…