August 30, 2005
Creative's iPod patent
More complications for Apple on the iPod patent front: One of Microsoft's hardware partners, device maker Creative Technology, announced this morning that it has received a patent for "its invention of the user interface for portable media players, including many of the Creative Zen and NOMAD Jukebox MP3 players, and found in some competing players, such as the Apple iPod and iPod mini. The Zen Patent covers the user interface that enables users of portable media players to efficiently and intuitively navigate among and select tracks on the players."
No word yet on what Creative plans to do with regard to the iPod.
This follows news earlier this month that an Apple patent application had been turned down because a Microsoft researcher had submitted an earlier application for a related technology.
Here's the Creative patent. The application was filed in January 2001, about 10 months before the iPod was unveiled.
Posted by Todd Bishop at August 30, 2005 10:37 AM
Don't worry too much about that patent, it's invalid due to SO MUCH prior art. I have lots of prior art from 1985, and I've seen lots of pre-Y2K prior art.
If not, it's time for inventors to invent a way to make the patent office disappear, because the constitution only awards patents to inventors, not corporate buggers with lawyers.
Don't buy anything from Litigators. That's easy, because they don't invent nor sell anything!
I just found and was going to throw away the box to the first MP3 player I ever bought. It has a display with menus. The instruction manual is dated 4/1/2001. As I said, we "ALL" had "ipods" before Creative. Nuke the PTO!
Apple will be happy to know that some of MY prior art ran on an APPLE II (in 1985). My prototype still works and has documentation. I was a teen then and it's all public domain; if I could have patented it the patent would have expired now.
I think I'll go blog all the public domain inventions that I invented before I could buy beer, and laugh at all the "child's play" patents they are all so having money-stuffed pillow fights with their lawyers about.
