| 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 grants Apple a license to a Creative patent for the hierarchical user interface used in that company's Zen music players. After months of hinting that it would be coming after rival music player companies, Creative sued Apple in May claiming the iPod maker was infringing on its patents.
A week later, Apple countersued claiming Creative was infringing on Apple patents for user interfaces. As a result of the settlement, all legal disputes between the two companies related to the patent will disappear. Creative had also asked the International Trade Commission to investigate Apple for patent infringement.
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.
"Creative is very fortunate to have been granted this early patent," Steve Jobs, Apple's CEO, said in a press release. Apple was eager to move beyond the legal dispute caused by the patent, which could have eventually cost the company as much as the $100 million settlement amount, Dowling said.
A Creative representative was not immediately available for comment.
Originally Published on August 23 2006
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