Creative Labs Patent -- First the MS Emoticon patent and now this! Arrrgh!

[calinb]

http://us.creative.com/local/1/newsletters/2005/sept/buzz.asp?campid=20648&cb2=Tama6FsOlkSKGvjhFEeHvdIDvVDlksLmPQddY6j7Gt84e$EJlZDczA==

"Our user interface lets you narrow down your selection by using a hierarchy on the player. "

and

"The user interface covered by the Zen Patent was invented by Creative research and development engineers in our Advanced Technology Center in Scotts Valley, California," said Sim Wong Hoo, chairman and CEO of Creative.

A patent for a hierarchical interface? Gimme a break! What's happened to prior art? Prior art has existed since the first hierarchical file subdirectory structure was invented--at least. Seems like anyone with the budget to defend a patent can get one and then duke it out with all the other big competing legal departments. Then they trade patents like baseball cards. Consumers get screwed because they're, ultimately, paying for the lawyers unproductive activities. Small and inovative develpers really get screwed because they don't have the legal budgets to fight the infringement claims. Innovation wanes!

Sorry folks. I just attended the Electronic Frontier Foundation 15 year party last weekend (great event), but needed an outlet already. Had ta' vent a little! :angry:

[trolltuning]

I wonder if everyone who has ever made use of this earlier than their patent filing sent them a letter requesting compensation, if that wouldn't help stop such garbage patent filings?

[Shinigami-Sama]

a hierarchical interface patent?
thats been around since well before vacumtube computers ever were invent, and long before even logic machines were dreamed up, how can you get a patent for something thats been around since before the age of the printing press?

[Mug Funky]

although, if anyone gets done for patent infringement on these fekking stupid patents, i'm pretty sure they'll be thrown out of court and (possibly) the patents revoked.

does a court have the power to revoke patents? i suppose it should.

it's like the RIAA suits - the more of these ludicrous suits actually get tested in court, the more they'll fail. hopefully it might discourage further stupid legal crap from being made in the first place.

hmm. heirarchical interface indeed. ever hear of the dewey decimal system? or phonebooks in alphabetical order? or pairing socks and storing them by colour? or sorting your screws and nails by size and type into their own jars?

[Joe Fenton]

hmm. heirarchical interface indeed. ever hear of the dewey decimal system? or phonebooks in alphabetical order? or pairing socks and storing them by colour? or sorting your screws and nails by size and type into their own jars?

You gotta have the magic phrase that gets you a patent everytime in the US, GUARANTEED.

"- using a computer."

Doesn't matter if it's been done for the last 10,000 years and is the stupidest thing you can think of, as long as you're doing it with a computer, it's "new" and "innovative"... at least that's how the USPTO feels about it from the patents they've issued.

[mimungr]

If you read the Microsoft patent, they were actually patenting a network protocol for transmitting custom emoticons -- not emoticons themselves. So it wasn't as egregious an abuse of the patent system as some claimed.

But I just skimmed the Creative patent, and it looks like they really did patent a plain ol' hierarchical interface.

The first claim:

1. A method of selecting at least one track from a plurality of tracks stored in a computer-readable medium of a portable media player configured to present sequentially a first, second, and third display screen on the display of the media player, the plurality of tracks accessed according to a hierarchy, the hierarchy having a plurality of categories, subcategories, and items respectively in a first, second, and third level of the hierarchy, the method comprising:

selecting a category in the first display screen of the portable media player;

displaying the subcategories belonging to the selected category in a listing presented in the second display screen;

selecting a subcategory in the second display screen;

displaying the items belonging to the selected subcategory in a listing presented in the third display screen; and

accessing at least one track based on a selection made in one of the display screens.

[calinb]

<snip>....
But I just skimmed the Creative patent, and it looks like they really did patent a plain ol' hierarchical interface.....
<snip>Thanks for the nice summary, mimungr! :thanks: