After battling it out in the courts, it seems that Apple has finally given in to Creative on the issue of which came first, the iPod UI or the Zen UI. Apple has agreed to pay Creative $100 million dollars to obtain a license to use an user interface; in addition, Creative has now been included into Apple's "Made for iPod" program, allowing it to put the coveted "Made for iPod" logo on its products and accessories.
This settlement comes after Creative and Apple mutually asserted this year that its user interface design came first, and that one stole the other's design. After filing for a patent in 2001, Creative was awarded the patent for their user interface back in 2005, centering around the interfaces ability to allow "portable media player players to navigate and select tracks." Then, in May of this year, Creative took legal action, suing Apple for patent infringement and asking for an injunction to stop the sale of the iPod and iPod Nano. Apple subsequently countersued Creative, alleging that they were the ones who were infringing, but as Apple's user interface patent filing was rejected, Creative had the upper-hand in this situation.
The fact of the matter is that Creative's user interface design goes back all the way to their Nomad Jukebox players, which were first released in 2000. Unfortunately for Creative, its line of MP3 players have not enjoyed quite as much success as Apple's iPods. As News.com reports:
Guess we finally know who was "creative" after all.
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