Creative Sues Apple Over the iPod

Digital media player vendor Creative Technology has asked a U.S. court to block sales of Apple Computer's iPod devices, claiming they violate one of Creative's U.S. patents.

Creative yesterday also asked the U.S. International Trade Commission to investigate whether Apple has violated U.S. trade law by importing the players into the U.S., a move that eventually could halt iPod sales in the U.S.

The lawsuit asks the court to stop Apple from selling iPods and seeks unspecified financial damages. It was filed yesterday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California.

User Interface the Issue

Creative claims to have invented the user interface software used by most portable digital media players, including the iPod.

This invention is protected by a 2005 patent entitled "Automatic Hierarchical Categorization of Music by Metadata," (U.S. Patent No. 6,928,433) Creative said.

An early entrant to the digital music player business, Creative sells a line of music and video players, called Zen, that competes with the iPod.

The company, based in Singapore, is also known for its line of Sound Blaster audio cards.

Apple representatives were not immediately available to comment for this story.