Thursday, September 01, 2005

Apple loses MP3 patents to MS, Creative

Apple has recently lost two patents covering their iPod to Creative and Microsoft. In July, Microsoft was awarded a patent for MP3 player user interface over Apple, when it was noted that Microsoft developer John Platt filed for a similar patent 5 months before Apple did (Source: Cnet, MacWorld).

Then on August 9th, Creative was awarded a patent for the navigational system used in many MP3 players (including the Creative Zen, Nomad Jukebox and Apple's iPod and iPod Mini), again over Apple (Sources: MSNBC, BBC). Discussions are currently underway between the various parties to resolve these issues.

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