subject: Creative wins MP3 player patent posted: Wed, 31 Aug 2005 00:18:06 +0100
[BUY creative HOLD Apple etc.. - Ed]
Creative wins MP3 player patent
Creative has been making MP3 players since 2000
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.
Navigate music
Creative said it had applied for the patent, dubbed the Zen Patent,
on 5 January 2001 and was awarded it on 9 August.
Apple's iPods dominate the digital music player market
It applies to the way music tracks are organised and navigated on a
player through a hierarchy using three or more successive screens.
For example, this would be a sequence of screens that could display
artists, then albums and then tracks.
"The first portable media player based upon the user interface
covered in our Zen Patent was our Nomad Jukebox MP3 player," said
Creative CEO Sim Wong Hoo.
"The Apple iPod was only announced in October 2001, 13 months after
we had been shipping the Nomad Jukebox based upon the user interface
covered by our Zen Patent."
In its press release, Creative said Apple had filed for a patent for
a user interface in a multimedia player in late 2002, but its
application had been recently rejected.
Creative is looking to take a slice out of Apple with its new
products. It recently introduced a new version of its Zen model which
has a colour screen and can play video.
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