Apple to pay Creative $100M

[mlc2000]

Ever notice how the Creative interface looks similar to the Ipod?
http://news.softpedia.com/images//news2/Apple-And-Creative-Are-039-Open-To-Settlement-039-2.jpg

Actually, its the other way around.
And now Apple has agreed to settle out of court
and pay Creative $100M in a patent infingement suit.

Full Story (http://www.macminute.com/2006/08/23/apple-creative/)

I think this is kinda funny because we all know Microsoft 'borrowed' the idea of Apple's mouse + GUI interface, now it seems Apple is guilty of the same slick moves. :cheesygri

[sz1999]

You think Apple Inc is so much creative? wrong. You think ipod/imac/ibook (whatever ishit is) is so much better, wrong. Apple is another company in the crowd, doing the same thing, making the crap for the gullibles and turning them into profits. Beyond that, apple did one more thing, disguising everything they made into "coolness" which in turn translates into more profit. I am proud of not owning anything having that leftover apple logo. Do you want to bite the apple already bitten by the others?

[contoursvt]

Apple borrowed the GUI and mouse from Xerox.

[phd1969]

Xerox PARC came out with a lot of innovations but the management at Xerox was way too dumb to figure out the goldmine they had. Trust me, it's for the better that Jobs came in and stole the concept of the GUI.

[contoursvt]

Point is that apple was not the inventor of the GUI so to say that MS stole the GUI from Apple would be false since Apple didnt develop it.

[kev*]

Apple didn't invent many things people give them credit for.

[Emancipated]

Time to read up on the relevant GUI. Wasn't there a point in time when Steve Jobs was employed by Xerox and had actually been part of the group who spear headed the whole GUI revolution? That's another topic so I digress.

I wonder how the 1st Generation iPod's GUI looked. It's a same they got busted because of their exaulted reputation as a company of innovation.

[kev*]

Time to read up on the relevant GUI. Wasn't there a point in time when Steve Jobs was employed by Xerox and had actually been part of the group who spear headed the whole GUI revolution? That's another topic so I digress.
Steve Jobs on Smalltalk
Steve Jobs had co-founded Apple Computer in 1976. The first popular personal computer, the Apple 2, was a hit - and made Steve Jobs one of the biggest names of a brand-new industry. At the height of Apple's early success in December 1979, Jobs, then all of 24, had a privileged invitation to visit Xerox Parc.
This is what Steve had to say about his visit to Xerox Parc.

"And they showed me really three things. But I was so blinded by the first one I didn't even really see the other two. One of the things they showed me was object orienting programming they showed me that but I didn't even see that. The other one they showed me was a networked computer system...they had over a hundred Alto computers all networked using email etc., etc., I didn't even see that. I was so blinded by the first thing they showed me which was the graphical user interface. I thought it was the best thing I'd ever seen in my life. Now remember it was very flawed, what we saw was incomplete, they'd done a bunch of things wrong. But we didn't know that at the time but still though they had the germ of the idea was there and they'd done it very well and within you know ten minutes it was obvious to me that all computers would work like this some day."

It was a turning-point. Jobs decided that this was the way forward for Apple.

[kev*]

To further that:

Steve Jobs Tours Xerox
In 1979, the Xerox Palo Alto Research Center developed the first prototype for a GUI. A young man named Steve Jobs, looking for new ideas to work into future iterations of the Apple computer, traded US $1 million in stock options to Xerox for a detailed tour of their facilities and current projects. One of the things Xerox showed Jobs was the Alto, which sported a GUI and a three-button mouse. When Jobs saw this prototype, he had an epiphany and set out to bring the GUI to the public.

Steve never worked on the project. Just paid big bucks to see/steal/use it.

[kev*]

It's a same they got busted because of their exaulted reputation as a company of innovation.
It's not a shame it's called patent infringement.

[jb22]

I was watching BBC World this morning and they were talking about this, and really this $100m is nothing to Apple. The were also saying how Creative agreed to not go after royalties from past and future iPod sales which is somewhat of a dumb move on Creative's part.

So what does this mean for consumers, not much. Apple will still sell lots of iPods and Creative will continue to try and catch up.

[Jon Lai]

I dont' think you can really say Jobs stole it.. just that he was inspired by it and this inspiration made Apple Computers what it is today. They should "thank" XEROX, but doesnt' necessary mean they "stole" it.

[gman]

I dont' think you can really say Jobs stole it.. just that he was inspired by it and this inspiration made Apple Computers what it is today. They should "thank" XEROX, but doesnt' necessary mean they "stole" it.

As much as how Microsoft was inspried by Apples.

[kev*]

I was watching BBC World this morning and they were talking about this, and really this $100m is nothing to Apple. The were also saying how Creative agreed to not go after royalties from past and future iPod sales which is somewhat of a dumb move on Creative's part.

So what does this mean for consumers, not much. Apple will still sell lots of iPods and Creative will continue to try and catch up.

I think Creative and Apple lawyers realized that the Patent was quite vague. $100m is not a huge deal for either company but there seems to be other deals in the works such as the iPod accessories to be made and sold by Creative and possibly in the near future Creative sound in Apples? Either way it was probably the best deal for both companies instead of a drawn out court battle. I see some technology trading or stock buyouts between the companies in the future. Apple is used quite a bit by the music editing biz so why not build in good sound too?