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Creative Wins a Patent
for Interface Used on Many MP3 Players
Sunday, August 31, 2005
Not that long ago, Microsoft was in the hopes
of winning a patent for its proposed MP3 player
interface patent after Apple's similar proposal
was rejected. Now, Creative which has also proposed
a patent, but back on the 5th January 2001 has
been awarded a patent on the 9th August 2005
for the interface that many MP3 players including
the Apple iPod & iPod mini series use.
Creative proposed its MP3 player interface patent
21 months before Apple and 16 months before
Microsoft's similar proposal. Creative launched
its Nomad Jukebox around September 2000, which
its Zen patent is based upon. This patent covers
the way audio tracks are organised and navigated
within the player that involves three or more
continuous screens of information, such as Artist
on one screen, tracks on the second screen and
albums on the third screen.
As Creative is losing out to Apple with the
iPod strongly leading the market, Creative is
trying their best to improve their market share
and have been recently releasing various new
products such as its Zen Vision with a 640 x
480 resolution colour display in an aim to attract
customers. Quakester2000 used our news submit
to submit the following news:
One of Apple's main rivals, Creative Technology,
has been awarded a patent for the interface
used on many digital music players.
Creative said the patent applied to its players,
as well as some competing products such as the
Apple's iPod and iPod mini.
The patent covers how files on a music player
are organised.
Creative was one of the first companies to produce
MP3 players but has lost out to Apple which
dominates the market.
The Creative announcement is the latest salvo
in its self-declared war against Apple.
In November, Creative boss Sim Wong Hoo said
he aimed to out market his competitors, saying
the MP3 war had started.
Apple's iPod is estimated to account for 80%
of sales of digital music players which use
hard drives to store music.
It will be interesting to see if Creative will
try to collect royalties from Apple or from
any anyone else that uses its patented technology.
However, according to a Reuters article, Creative
mentions that Microsoft's application covers
different technology from its patent. It will
intesting to see if Microsoft makes it.
*Article courtesy o f Seán Byrne and www.cdfreaks.com
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