http://news.zdnet.com/2100-9584_22-6072488.html

This case is the most complete bullshit ever.



Basically Creative is suing Apple for 'patent infringment' on Apples menu format. Basically Apple came up with their menu format many years ago for the iPod. They never filed a patent for it so Creative jumped on it and filed one and is now sueing apple for using it. Their goal for the suit is to force Apple to quit selling iPods. Talk about complete bullshit sueing a company for something they created. Patent abuse such as this is bullshit and why patents are terrible ideas in the first place.

I am prity sure there are laws regarding stuff like this to the effect that since Apple was obvioulsy the creator of this menu system, they have the right to use it, despite Creative filing a patent for it.

This is just more evidence towards the dominance of the i-pod and the ultimate demise of lesser products, until something better comes along.

Jen's brother bought a Zen Touch, its a complete POS...the computer upload interface is 100% worse than i-tunes, it wont let you rip music from CDs...I called him an idiot (in my head...I do like sleeping in my own bed of course) fro buying it.

Wow, I like creative products but wtf there mp3 player is crap compared to the iPod

Yeah I had a Creative once. I wasn't very impressed with it

Yeah my dad has the creative mp3 player and my girlfriend has an ipod. When I use the Creative one I feel like I am fucking with a fancy cardboard box.

I can't believe you don't like mustard. :o

A friend of mine has that Creative Zen Pro thing.... complete shit. Another friend hasn iPod. That was just... awesome. I could seriously navigate those menus for ages and never get bored. I love the interface.

What fucking bastards.

Creative? Apple are truly the only creative ones.



And I wanted to buy some shares in Apple, no wonder they recently sank

That's not totally a bad thing. Shares should go back up. I mean hell, its Apple.

Yes, this is some major patent protection abuse. I'm not sure on the precedents in the types of cases, but it looks like Creative will have an exceedingly difficult and expensive time getting anywhere with these lawsuits.

No, patents are not terrible ideas. They are one of the most essential but understated protections of the world economy.

My guess is that Apple will just pay a royalty per ipod sold with the technology, rather than abstaining from all sales.

But why should Apple have to pay a royalty for something they created? It's bullshit and Creative knows this. They found a loophole to try to bring the ipod down. I've actually lost a lot of respect for Creative for this move.

Any judge who isnt a complete fuckwad would throw this case out

You said "They never filed a patent for it" referring to Apple. Probably thinking it was prior art and not worth the resources to pursue the patent. Creative got on it and now holds the patent apparently. I don't know much about the situation beyond what's in the link you posted and your quick rundown.

Im sure there is a grandfather clause for situations like this...if ther isnt then you countries patent system is kinda fucked.

This is kinda like that whole RIM patent case that went before the supreme court last year regarding the Blackberry...niot the same...just a lesser company (in the case of the comapny suing rim, a non existant company) suing a larger comapny for financial gain. The US patent office saw it for what it was and canclled the pattent from NTP.

But now another fuck-tard company has sued RIM.

What the fuck is with these companies. "we cant compete on the level with you, so we will make up BS patent claims and sue you into the ground".

There probably is a clause of some sort to cover Apple's past sales, but now that Creative holds the patent it would not apply to future sales.




EDIT


It's more like: You're profiting from our intellectual property so you owe us.

This reminds me of when smart parts got a handful of patents on paintball guns having to do with how the paintball gun actually works. When they got it, pretty much 3/4 of all pb guns being made were infringing it and smart parts was being a cunt by taking money from everyone. It sucked.

I hope creative doesn't get their patent, it would suck.

Creative already has the patent. They filed for it shortly after the ipod originally came out. They waited for the ipod to dominate the market and are now hitting Apple while they're big.

That's funny, I was thinking about trading in my iPod with video for a Creative Vision: M a couple days ago. I hate the click wheel, and I hate the fact that the iPod is such a pop culture thing (hell, it's even fashionable). Anyway I got over it because iPods are just so damned sexy to look at. OH yeah, and this case is b/s.

retarted. that's the one problem with the US, everyone and everything is so rediculously lawsuit crazy, and the worst of it is that the stupidest suits keep winning (the million dollar payout for the stupid ho that spilled hot mcdonald's coffee on her own damn self is a great example).

back to the story at hand, that's a super low blow for creative to pull. you would think that a company that has been around as long as them would have a lot more class and business sense to refrain from adolescent crap like this.

PSA: The word "retarded" had one T and two Ds.

But in this case apple is proffiting from its own intelectual property, and Creative is just trying to get some money outta them.

You guys, I'm going to steal Diesel's website layout, patent it and then sue him for using it.

I guess thats how the world revolves....especially in a competive and greedy world.
I can't blame Creative for going one step ahead...people need all the money they can get...even if its stepping on another person's head.

1. Creative filed for the patent January 5, '01. The iPod was unveiled October 23, '01.

2. Creative didn't necessarily wait for the iPod to dominate. The patent was finally granted August '05, typical timeline for patent approvals.

yeah yeah, leave me alone.

Apple doesn't own the intellectual property.




That's copyright infringement smart-guy.

Apple is now countersueing Creative.

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/05/18/bus...w.dailytech.com

Good. i hope Apple wins, thereby shoving the preverbial steel toe boot up creative's ass

If what Megadeus says is true this is a crystal clear case and Apple will be on the receiving end of that "steel toe boot".

Rio had similiar menus way before these two got into MP3 players.... why aren't they suing them?

Isn't that made by Creative?

nah, rio is its own company, I had an mp3 player from them a few years before the Ipod...

I don't know why they aren't popular nowadays, they probably don't use those menus either anymore, but I very much remember the one I had, had menus much like that in the Ipod.

They aren't popular because they went bust. I had a Rio 600, most unreliable piece of shit I'd ever owned. I went through three under warranty.

I had a 600 as well, it still works... had it since like... 2001.

However my GF's ipod has frozen at least 10 times.

A friend of mine had an iPod that straight up froze and never came back. Mine's been workign flawlessly, despite my forgetting it in the baking heat of my car...it's honestly been to hot to hold at points, but it still works.

My first Rios "skin" started pealing, second one's on/off switch broke, third one kept turning itself off...unless I put it on hold as soon as I started playing a song. All three had that problem.

everyone is missing the point.. the bulk of the income is coming from the purchase of music. according to their annual report.

but they are about to be losing money soon.. and same with microsoft..

the key factor is DRM. digital rights management.


apparently when one buys the music online. it can only be played on the system that it was bought with cause of a key. this is how the industry controls copyrights. and the key is not transferable. it tags to the unique "serial number" of the system/device.

itunes and windows's DRM work on the same function..

apparently the same guy who cracked DVD's encryption. also cracked itunes and DRM.

both company and RIAA sued him but lost. cause he didnt infringe any copyrights. he made a "universal key" that allows the tunes to be transferred to another system without needing the original key.

but he didnt broke any copyright laws. he is also the same guy that broke PDF's secure encryption system.

and he has released his application. now anyone can play itunes on windows media player. and anyone can play WMA files on itunes.

have to go dig out where is the link without having to put the file on my server.