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Apple, Creative ‘open to settlement’ of suits
Apple and Creative Technology said in court documents that they ”remain open to the possibility” of ending their legal battles over patent infringement. In a July 3rd joint court filing, the two companies said they were in negotiations for the licensing of Creative’s patent to Apple six months before the suit was filed and were “open” to reaching an agreement. “The parties will remain open to the possibility of settlement,” the joint report said. “No specific settlement discussions are planned.” As previously reported, Apple and Creative are suing each other in California, Texas and Wisconsin over various patents relating to the iPod and Zen audio players. The International Trade Commission is also investigating complaints made by each company.
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1
Creative should be more involved in making BETTER MUSIC PLAYERS and not worrying about who they BELIEVE is stealing from them.
Posted by Charlie O. on July 6, 2006 at 5:44 PM (PDT)
2
Charlie O: believe it or not, there ARE people out there who don’t work for Creative that actually DO believe that Creative makes a better DAP these days (now whether they can write good companion software is entirely another matter, however) Only those that are so in love with Apple and iPods seem to have the hardest time contemplating that this might even be remotely possible.
Moreover, the fact that both Apple and Creative admit that they are both open to negotiation and settlement means BOTH understand that there’s a lot to lose on both sides. Yet as I’ve stated in the past, because of Apple’s dominance, Cupertino’s more likely to be hurt by all of this than Creative will be if the various respective claims go against them. Creative’s become a minor player in the U.S. DAP market, except for one key aspect: that patent of theirs that the U.S. Patent Office awarded (and who in turn rejected Apple’s too-late version). They have every right to protect it, just as Apple has every right to protect those patents they feel Creative abused.
Posted by flatline response on July 8, 2006 at 10:17 AM (PDT)