p2pnet.net News:- “If you think Apple Computer’s Steve Jobs invented the technology behind the Apple iPod, don’t bet your 60GB, 15,000-song model on it,” says InformationWeek.

If that comes as a complete surprise to you, it shouldn’t. Steve is great at identifying technologies other people created and turning them into gold. In other words, he’s a marketer more than an inventor but now, according to the US Patent and Trademark Office, “patent applications that cover much of the technology associated with the iPod were submitted by Microsoft,” says the story.

AppleInsider has already reported that the iPod interface patent application was turned down and it seems the basis for the denial was a, “similar method outlined in a Microsoft researcher’s patent application, filed after the iPod was introduced but before Apple sought its own patent,” says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

And, “If the patents hold up on appeal, Apple could be accountable for royalties,” says InformationWeek, going on:

“Microsoft’s claim appears to center on the work of John C. Platt, a senior researcher in the Knowledge Tools Group at Microsoft Research. According to media reports, on behalf of Microsoft, Platt applied for the patent in May of 2002 some five months before the Apple filing. Platt’s application was rejected in December 2004, but he amended it in April of this year and Microsoft’s pending patent was subsequently approved.”

Says the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, “The initial rejection of Apple’s patent, and the approval of Microsoft’s patent, could make it possible for other device makers to more closely follow the on-screen design of the iPod in their own music players. Microsoft works with hardware companies, including Royal Philips Electronics, Samsung Electronics, iRiver and others who use its digital-music software.

“Regardless of the outcome, Microsoft doesn’t intend to try to block Apple from the market, said David Kaefer, business development director for Microsoft’s intellectual property and licensing group. ‘We have a long-standing practice of licensing things to Apple and licensing Apple’s patents to use in our products,’ Kaefer said. ‘Our approach is to recognize that, frankly, we’re both mutually dependent on the good ideas of one another’.”

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See:-
InformationWeek - Did Microsoft Invent The iPod, August 12, 2005
turned down - Apple iPod interface in danger, p2pnet, August 10, 2005
Seattle Post-Intelligencer - Microsoft beats Apple to punch on key iPod patent, August 12, 2005

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