Looks like there are going to be fun and game ;-)
I seem to remember a lot of "look'n'feel" cases brought by Apple in the 80s .... chickens coming home to roost now.
From the latest Windows IT Pro newsletter (subscribe at
http://list.windowsi...om/t?ctl=2A736:2DB06)
Creative Sues to Halt iPod Sales (by Paul Thurrott)On Monday, MP3 maker Creative Technology sued Apple Computer for patent
infringement and asked the United States International Trade Commission
(ITC) to require Apple to stop selling its hugely successful iPod.
Creative is currently a distant second in the MP3 player market, which
Apple's iPod dominates. Creative is also seeking unspecified damages.
Creative reports that it applied for its so-called Zen patent in August
2005. The patent--nicknamed for Creative's Zen MP3 players--covers
"[Creative's] invention of the UI used by most portable digital-media
players," including Apple's iPod. Creative was a pioneer in the MP3
player market and was the first company to ship a hard-drive-based MP3
player.
"The iPods and iPod Nanos sold by Apple are specifically configured to
access and display music loaded by the user in ways that infringe the
asserted patent," Creative's complaint reads. Indeed, Apple's iPod UI
is suspiciously similar to the UI Creative used in its first hard-
drive-based player, the Nomad Jukebox, which shipped in January 2000,
almost two years before the first iPod launched.
According to Creative, Apple approached it in early 2001 to investigate
how the two companies could work together. Apple asked to license
Creative's technology and suggested that the companies spin off
Creative's MP3 player assets, but Creative declined both offers. In
October 2001, Apple launched the iPod line of MP3 players, which had a
slow start but began selling well about a year and a half later. The
iPod featured a Nomadlike UI but in a much smaller form factor.
