From the “Law Suit? Does that come in pinstripes?” desk…

Let’s get ready to rumble! Music player manufacturer Creative has issued a lawsuit against Apple Computer regarding the iPod user interface. It started long ago (well, last August, anyway) when Creative won a patent related to their menu-based user interface, which is similar in nature to the iPod’s interface. At the time there was some posturing but nothing really came out of it.

The other shoe dropped today when Creative filed a lawsuit against Apple in Northern California accusing Apple with patent infringement, as well as an injunction asking the court to stop all iPod sales within the United States. On top of that, Creative took their case to the United States International Trade Commission, saying that Apple violated a tariff law of some sort.

Deep Thought’s Take: What fun. I would guess that this is not going to result in the halting of iPod sales and would probably end with an out-of-court settlement with Apple forking over a nice chunk of change (in licensing fees or otherwise). That is, unless Creative decides to go for the jugular and refuses an out-of-court settlement which would either make creative look incredibly brilliant or really stupid, depending on the outcome. That is, unless Apple decides they’ve had enough of Creative’s antics and buys Creative. That is, unless someone files an antitrust complaint. That is, unless this case doesn’t get thrown out in the first place. Oy.

One side could make the case that, yes, Apple borrowed Creative’s UI, which was first shown off at CES in 2000, according to Playlist Magazine. The other side, however, could make the case that the iPod’s UI is the outgrowth of iTune’s “browse” feature, which is in itself an apparent outgrowth of OS X’s column view browsing mode, in which case Apple just might be able to claim prior art. Maybe.

So...last ditch effort by Creative to derail the iPod train or legitimate complaint? Or maybe a little bit of both? You make the call.

Full Disclosure: Yes, this article’s writer owns a small stake in Apple. No, it did not influence the writing of this article. So there.