Patent zen and the art of smartphone war —

Creative pushed Steve Jobs to armor up for the smartphone patent war

Apple's patent zeal was apparently triggered by a long-forgotten MP3 player.

The current smartphone patent wars are an economic and philosophic minefield, with many of the top tech companies suing each other, and tech aficionados sounding the call to reform or banish patents altogether. But why did Apple file over 200 patent applications for its iPhone-related technology, and decide to go "thermonuclear" when other smartphone makers allegedly "copied" the iPhone? According to the New York Times, it seems that the sting of paying $100 million to a former competitor to license a user interface patent for Apple's iconic iPod inspired former Apple CEO Steve Jobs to "patent it all" with respect to the iPhone.

In the early days of MP3 players, from the late '90s up until the early '00s, Creative Technology was one of the top makers. When Apple released the first iPod in 2001, Slashdot founder Rob "CmdrTaco" Malda compared it to Creative's established Nomad line. His infamous eight-word review: "No wireless. Less space than a nomad. Lame."

But earlier that year, Creative applied for a user interface patent for its upcoming "Zen" MP3 players, which had a passing similarity to the iPod's hierarchical track list navigation. When that patent was granted by the US Patent and Trademark Office in 2006, Creative promptly filed a lawsuit against Apple, which had quickly grown to dominate the portable music player market with an 80 percent market share.

Apple quickly settled the lawsuit just a few months later, striking a $100 million licensing deal with Creative. "Creative is very fortunate to have been granted this early patent," Jobs said in a statement released in 2006.

That $100 million dollars didn't ultimately make any serious dent in Apple's bottom line, but to Jobs it was a wake up call. According to one former Apple executive that spoke to the New York Times, Jobs assembled his senior managers and told them that for the iPhone—in 2006, still in development as the secret "Project Purple"— Apple was "going to patent it all."

"His attitude was that if someone at Apple can dream it up, then we should apply for a patent, because even if we never build it, it’s a defensive tool," former Apple general counsel Nancy Heinen told NYT. "Even if we knew it wouldn't get approved, we would file the application anyway. If nothing else, it prevents another company from trying to patent the idea."

Jobs claimed during the iPhone's introduction in January 2007 that Apple had filed for over 200 patents related to the iPhone's design and technology. And Apple repeatedly warned that it would "not stand for having our IP ripped off," before launching a lawsuit against Android smartphone maker HTC in 2010.

The legal fight over smartphones now includes Samsung, Sony, RIM, LG, Motorola, and Google, among others, and takes place in courts all over the globe. Google Vice President for Corporate Development David Lawee described Apple's recent $1 billion patent infringement verdict against Samsung as the company's own "wake-up call," noting that Google "didn't really believe 'rounded corners' were patentable." Jobs likely had a similar moment in 2006, when Creative came knocking with its "Zen Patent" that covered a "plurality of tracks accessed according to a hierarchy."

Channel Ars Technica