Apple's iPod Interface Patent in Jeopardy 333
Gadget Guy writes "Apple has been denied on their quest to patent the iPod software interface. According to AppleInsider - 'Standing in Apple's way appears to be a prior filing by inventor John Platt, who submitted a patent application for a similar software design for a portable device in May of 2002 - just five months before Robbin submitted his claims on behalf of Apple.'" The Register also helps to shed a little additional light on the subject.
Royalties? (Score:2, Interesting)
Nothing will happen (Score:5, Interesting)
What are the merits of a patent in this case? (Score:2, Interesting)
They have: DRM, Large music base, their own portable MP3 player that's compatible.
Are they worried about people confusing Yahoo's or Mircrosoft's offerings with iTunes?
Obviousness (Score:3, Interesting)
It would be nice if two people patenting the same thing at roughly the same time could be used as a test to indicate that neither patent is valid and both are obvious.
...but that would make sense.
BRING BACK the pPod or pBop or whatever!! (Score:4, Interesting)
Ridiculous beyond belief (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Nothing will happen (Score:3, Interesting)
The only patent suits filed by Microsoft are countersuits.
Re:Intellectual Property (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Nothing will happen (Score:1, Interesting)
Re:Nothing will happen (Score:3, Interesting)
iPod interface almost = to iTunes interface (Score:3, Interesting)
Correct me if I'm wrong, but isn't the iPod interface just a refined and slightly extended version of the iTunes interface? It seems to me that Apple purposely designed the iPod interface to resemble iTunes so users would have a seamless user experience when going between the two interfaces. Apple released iTunes sometime in 1999 so it's likely that both patent applications were inspired by iTunes. Is implementing an existing interface on an embedded device really that new?
Re:Good (Score:2, Interesting)
Just my thought.