Apple and Creative have been having at it the last couple of months by suing eachother in turns. It all started with Creative filing a lawsuit against Apple, which a few hours later was counter-sued by Apple. The turns have shifted each week and more suits have been filed without anyone being able to spot an end to this debacle. Now Creative and Apple have finally agreed and it seems like Creative, who started the whole ordeal, was cloest to being right. Apple has namely agreed to pay $100 million in licensing fees for Creative’s patent, which made out the foundation of the case.
Creative are of course happy with the solution, but also Apple seems to be satisfied with the settlement.
“Creative is very fortunate to have been granted this early patent,” said Steve Jobs, Apple’s CEO. “This settlement resolves all of our differences with Creative, including the five lawsuits currently pending between the companies, and removes the uncertainty and distraction of prolonged litigation.”
The large licensing fee might be reduced if Creative manages to license its patent to other companies as well. Exactly how this would work and how much that is invovled is uncertain. Creative has in its press release stated that it will also start selling third party accessories for Apple’s family of iPods. In other words it seems like Apple and Creative are almost friends now.
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