Yet another one... Creative Sues Apple Over the iPod

[Kougar]

Not again!! Does anyone here actually believe the makers of the Zen player has any legitimacy here? Why doesn't everyone just sue Microsoft at once and be done with it...

Apple Computer faces more lawsuits

In a quick turn of events, Creative Labs, maker of the Zen family of MP3 players, has filed a lawsuit against Apple Computer for the iPod's interface. Despite the iPod's interface being largely the same for several years now, Creative Labs has felt it necessary to sue Apple due to a claim that Apple infringed on its patents.

Creative says that the iPod's graphical user interface is proprietary technology to its Zen MP3 products and that it owns the method in which users browse a portable MP3 device for music. Creative also says that its engineers invented the interface way back in 2000. While Creative says that it has the rights to the user interface for number of years now, the lawsuit refers to this patent here, which is actually dated last year.

http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2361 (http://www.dailytech.com/article.aspx?newsid=2361)

[mousiness]

wow, just another companys jealousy, just like the beatles against apple, i mean arent their sound cards enough? I honestly think these companies should take time making new stuff other than complaining, unless it is a legitemate thing to sue about.

[Kougar]

More info available at http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060515-6838.html (http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060515-6838.html)

Here is the crux of the suit itself, based from this patent:

A method of selecting at least one track from a plurality of tracks stored in a computer-readable medium of a portable media player configured to present sequentially a first, second, and third display screen on the display of the media player, the plurality of tracks accessed according to a hierarchy, the hierarchy having a plurality of categories, subcategories, and items respectively in a first, second, and third level of the hierarchy