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Apple Gives In to Absurd Patent Claims
gottabeme writes Apple has settled with a small Oregon company that claimed patents on simple aspects of iTunes, such as sorting and searching tracks, copying tracks to media players, and just plain choosing a track to play." From the article: "In the 10-page suit, lawyers for Contois said that David Contois, the owner, conceived of and developed a computer interface for playing music on an internal or external computer-responsive music device, which he then exhibited at the 1995 COMDEX trade show and the 1996 NAMM music industry trade show. According to the suit, persons who were at the time employed by or later became employed by Apple were present at both trade shows and viewed Contois' software. The suit charged that Apple later 'copied' the invention and used the design ideas in the interface for iTunes."
In other news, Apple is also being sued by Us Playing Cards because the iPod too closely resembles a deck of Bicycle cards.
woa i remember playing the demo of that game back when i was young and dumb. ah the memories!
Apple is accused of copying someone's "look and feel"? Hmmm. Where have I heard that argument before? Oh, the thick, thick irony.
Sometimes it's best to just let stupid people be stupid.
Maybe he didn't realize Apple had violated his patent. Patents have to be non-obvious, after all, so perhaps the violation of said patent did not become obvious until a few years after iTunes became wildly popular.
That must be it.
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According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
that same claim can't be made again by another company -- unless they take it up with the company that won the first claim
That's patently false.
Please for a second picture a music player that doesn't allow the user to select the music to be played via a menu.
Actually, that pretty much describes the iPod Shuffle!
liqbase
. . .if I wanted this shit I'd be visited www.sycophanticapplefanboy.com.
You lying bastard. You got me all excited for a minute, but it turns out you just made the place up.
die.die.die
KFG
giving in to these silly claims only gives support for more silly claims to be made.
Quick someone patent "silly".
It can be done, even though its an action not a thing.
iSue and iLitigate