Digital Home Thoughts: Creative Preps for More Zen Patent Lawsuits to "Protect" Itself

"Fresh off their victory in getting Apple to cough up a hundred million dollars for potential infringement on their Zen patent (which outlines hierarchical menu systems for portable media devices), it should come as no surprise that Creative's legal team is mounting up, and the company has issued a statement that they intend to pursue cases of the patent's infringement elsewhere. The President of Creative Labs Inc., Craig McHugh, told DowJones, "There many MP3 player makers in the US market that are currently using the Zen technology, and there are also several cellphones that are music-enabled that are using the Zen patent," following up with, "We are also ready to take the necessary steps to protect our intellectual property." Yeah, we're sure they are; but as Steve said himself, "Creative is very fortunate to have been granted this early patent...""

Oh c'mon, this is insanity. I do not believe that Creative should be looking to go after more patents. In my opinion, this is a low way to try and make up revenue when they couldn't do it by selling players themselves. It is not like I don't understand patent infringement, but I just feel that this is taking the low-ground and looking for infringements instead of working towards innovation. Bah, maybe I am just an idealist!