Apple blunder gives Gates iPod royalty

Posted by tadelste on Aug 14, 2005 9:42 AM EDT
Independent Online; By Katherine Griffiths in New York
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Apple Computer may be forced to pay royalties to Microsoft for every iPod it sells after it emerged that Bill Gates's software giant beat Steve Jobs' firm in the race to file a crucial patent on technology used in the popular portable music players. The total bill could run into hundreds of millions of dollars. Although Apple introduced the iPod in November 2001, it did not file a provisional patent application until July 2002, and a full application was filed only in October that year. In the meantime, Microsoft submitted an application in May 2002 to patent some key elements of music players, including song menu software. Editor's Note: What were you saying about the fairness of patents?

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Prior Art Abe 7 1,659 Aug 15, 2005 10:45 AM

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