Weren't Patents invented as a way to stop people from stealing other people's ideas and using them for profit? I've read quite a few articles about this, and it seems that both companies came up with their separate designs independently, with the only similarity in that the interfaces were "circular".
Putting up a legal patent shield by patenting everything in sight, as Microsoft has pledged to do (what was it, the goal of 3,000 patents a year?) that leads to them patenting emotion cons (
, etc), how to make baseball exciting, and packaging for software (involves a clear box), seems as an abuse of the system, as they arn't patenting a specific product, but very broad concepts, which thousands of other patents could fall under. And the entire thing about them patenting this design AFTER the ipod came out really seems to abuse the entire thing, as they've managed to not only twist the patent system from protecting an idea, but patenting a similar idea and then using it against the creators of the original.
Something's a little screwed up here
Sure we could argue who filed what paperwork first for what issue and what things it covered etc. But we've all known that the iPod has been out for years now, been Apple's most successful product, and they've done an a amazing job with that. If Microsoft really did "invent" the idea first they should have said something a LONG time ago, instead of declaring war on the iPod, which seems quite an odd action if Apple supposedly 'stole" an idea.
Regardless of who filed what paperwork first, this entire thing is a pretty good indicate of the kind of mess that's going up there in the patent office. Creators of a successful product being sued because of paperwork dates, I mean, come on. Although I have to admit, the patent people have a ton of challenges that weren't even conceived when the idea of a patent was invented, I'm pretty sure patents weren't ever intended to be used in this way.
-Chris
By the way, I'm referencing slahdotted stories a lot in this post, so if you ever get curious, (and don't read slashdot (horrors!) just pm me and I'll send you the links to the stories I'm talking about.