p2pnet - rss feed: iPod inventor: consulting lawyers
p2p news / p2pnet: "I came up with the idea of downloading music (and data and video) down telephone lines in 1979 when I was 23, and patented it," Kane Kramer told the Guardian Unlimited’s Juliet Rix.
He went on, "With James Campbell, who was 21, I developed a working prototype. We had orders worth £60m from the recording industry for our solid-state digital recorder when we lost control of the patent. There was a coup attempt within the company and we couldn’t raise enough money to pay the patent fees in time. So the patent was voided."
"Do you have an MP3 player?" - asked Rix.
"No," said Kramer. "I like the iPod, but it feels a bit unfair to have to buy one. I could show you my drawings from 1979-82 and there is an iPod - same size, shape. It feels like mine."
The interview was back in 2004 and now, "I suppose, in a way, I am the world’s biggest failure," the Mail on Sunday has Kramer saying.
But he hasn’t abandoned all hope. "Kramer is consulting lawyers to see whether he has any claim to the design and technology behind the iPod," says the story, quoted in MacNewsWorld.
"In 1988, on the brink of commercial success, the company was split by a boardroom coup," says the story, adding, "Distracted and unable to raise money in time to renew patents across 120 countries, Kramer watched as the technology became public property."
The recording industry began using digital technology in the early Nineties, and the first MP3 player was launched in 1999, says the Mail on Sunday.
"Two years later, the iPod became a design icon of the 21st Century."
In the Guardian’s 2004 story, "In the past 10 days, I have come up with the antidote to everybody pinching copyrighted material off the internet," says Kramer.
"I can stop it. Only one person knows the technical details. This is not one for me to develop - it’s one for a big firm."
Also See:
Guardian Unlimited - Talk time: Kane Kramer, September 30, 2004, 2006
Mail on Sunday - MP3 Inventor Could’ve Been a Contender, April 19, 2006
April 19th, 2006 at 10:06 pm
If the wheel had not been invented when it was invented, it would have been invented later anyway.
April 19th, 2006 at 10:51 pm
“I came up with the idea of downloading music (and data and video) down telephone lines in 1979 when I was 23, and patented it.”
Ye, thats like patenting breathing. downloading data and video is completely generic and wouldn’t be granted any kind of patent these days. He’s dreaming…
April 20th, 2006 at 12:01 am
It’s sad that people think that iPods are the only mp3 players in existence. The fact is that there are a ton of companies that make players that are of equal quality as the ipod. In fact, there are some that are even better!
April 20th, 2006 at 10:39 am
name one. no. name 2
April 20th, 2006 at 2:26 pm
He will nevertheless be shaken down by a lawyer who will do all sorts of investigations at $100 an hour and charges customers for 50 hours of work per day.
April 20th, 2006 at 4:30 pm
“couldn’t raise enough money to pay the patent fees in time”
Too bad. The patent office allows a considerable amount of time with several notices.
Responsibility for having a patent monopoly …
“YOU MUST PAY YOUR DUES, OTHERWISE, YOU LOSE”
April 20th, 2006 at 7:40 pm
“Distracted and unable to raise money in time to renew patents across 120 countries, Kramer watched as the technology became public property.”
120 countries?
A patent need be claimed in one country. It is automatically valid in all countries in patent treaty.
Something fishy here!