Apple settles with Creative for $100 million
Apple Computer and Creative Technology have agreed to settle their legal dispute over music player patents for $100 million, the companies announced Wednesday. The $100 million, to be paid by Apple, grants Apple a license to a Creative patent for the hierarchical user interface used in that company’s Zen music players.
Apple can get back some of the $100 million payment if Creative is able to secure licensing deals with other MP3 player manufacturers, said Steve Dowling, an Apple spokesman. He declined to specify exactly how much Apple could recoup or how many deals it would take to trigger the payments. Under U.S. patent law, the first inventor to file a patent generally holds the rights to that technology, said Rod Thompson, an intellectual property lawyer with Farella Braun and Martell in San Francisco. This isn’t always the case, as another inventor can attempt to prove that they were working on the invention before the other inventor filed for a patent, but that’s a long, expensive legal process with no certainties, he said.
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