Slashdot Mirror
Apple Settles Creative Lawsuit for $100 Million
E IS mC(Square) writes "CNet News reports that `Apple Computer and Creative Technology have agreed to settle their legal dispute over music player patents for $100 million, the companies announced Wednesday.
The $100 million, to be paid by Apple, grants Apple a license to a Creative patent for the hierarchical user interface used in that company's Zen music players.
The patent covers an interface that lets users navigate through a tree of expanding options, such as selecting an artist, then a particular album by that artist, then a specific song from that album. Creative filed for the patent on Jan. 5, 2001.
Apple can get back some of the $100 million payment if Creative is able to secure licensing deals with other MP3 player manufacturers, said Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman. "Creative is very fortunate to have been granted this early patent," Apple's CEO Steve Jobs said in a press release.`"
""Creative is very fortunate to have been granted this early patent," Apple's CEO Steve Jobs said in a press release.`"
You can almost hear him whispering "motherfuckers!" under his breath after saying this.
Step 2. License offending patents to Creative for 150M.
Step 3. There is no step 3.
I suppose it's a new version of Rip. Burn. Mix.
... for an anatomical opening to expel the byproducts of digestion and sue everyone in sight with an a*****e.
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
Puh-leez. As you can plainly see in this example, Creative is represented by the stick-man with the small ... stick, Creative's legal staff is represented by the stick-devil, and Apple is represented by the two stick-men who appear in the beginning. Any questions?
I think Despair.com said it best in their half-hearted, but sadly successful attempt in patenting the frowny-face emoticon.
If that's not screaming failure in our U.S. government, I don't know what is.
--I gots 99 problems but a new machine ain't one!
AMD! Asus! Whoot! 6 years!
The patent police have commenced random inspections of CD collections.
If you sort your CDs alphabetically by artist and album you will be sued for copyright infringement. You have been warned!
That's going to wipe out the profit margin on sales of 20-30 ipods!
... who holds the patent on using the WM_PAINT message to detect when a portion of an application's window needs to be redrawn. Clearly, someone other than Apple owns this patent, and is refusing to license it to them, because the Windows version of iTunes has been plagued with gaping areas of blackness since its first release.
I mean, come on... does nobody at Apple own a copy of the freaking Petzold book?
</rant>
Dahlmann tightly grips the knife, which he may have no idea how to use, and steps out into the plain.
"patent covers an interface that lets users navigate through a tree of expanding options"
Let me get this straight: Creative got a patent on a menu.
wow. I am in awe of their technical prowess.
Consider how many people 100 million dollars could employ.
Just one, but I'll work O/T and weekends too!
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
If more people/companies challenged the 'fork and knife' patents, fewer companies would abuse them.
I believe you mean: An apparatus to divide food into portions of arbitrary size, by keeping the initial portion in place by holding the handle of the multi-pronged device, while simultaneously grasping the handle of the bladed device, and moving the thin or serated edge back and forth in a sawing motion against the food, and subsequently introducing those portions into an oral oriface using the multi-pronged device, or leaving them in their original position, or thereabouts, as desired, by firmly pressing one part of the bladed device against the portion to facilitate removal of the multi-pronged device from the aforementioned portion. Patent(s) pending.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
Yeah. It got thrown out.
Well, after the lawyers take their cut, abou 40% of it will vanish.