Apple sued for Creative Zen

Stan Beer
Tuesday, 16 May 2006 14:02

Your IT - Home IT

Fresh out of the frying pan from its recent court case with The Beatle's music company, Apple Computer has landed in the fire with a patent infringement lawsuit lodged against it by Singapore-based electronic manufacturer Creative Technology.

Creative, which makes a range of MP3 players called Zen, has alleged that the Apple iPod user interface infringes on patents Creative owns concerning the method in which users search for music on portable MP3 devices. Creative applied for the US patent in 2001, well before the iPod came into being, and it was granted in August 2005. Since that time, speculation has been mounting of a patent challenge to Apple by Creative, especially since Apple had also applied for a similar patent which was denied.

Creative and Apple are reported to have held high level discussions in 2001 concerning possible cooperation in 2001, a year after Creative first unveiled its MP3 music browser in a prototype portable player.

As well the lawsuit in a US District Court of California, Creative has lodged a complaint with the US International Trade Commission.

While it is clear that Creative's intellectual property for music browsing on portable music players preceded that of Apple's, the prevailing view of some legal experts in the past, such as patent attorney Robert Kunstadt, is that Creative hasn't got much of a chance. Last year, an article in PC Magazine reported Kunstadt as saying: "If I were Apple I don't think I'd be shaking in my boots."

The problem for Creative is that a law suit is going to be long, costly and the outcome uncertain, as was witnessed by The Beatle's Apple Corp recently. The idea that anyone is going to issue an order preventing Apple from shipping iPods in the US is unimaginable. However, Creative and Apple could well come to a settlement, much like the one between Apple Computer and Apple Corp in 1991. Apple has plenty of cash and, now that it has been well and truly beaten in the portable music market, Creative could use some of it.