BigShinyThing

Apparently, Microsoft has beaten Apple in the race to file a crucial patent on technology used in the portable music players. Although Apple introduced in the iPod in November 2001, it did not file a provisional patent application until July 2002 and a full application was filed only in October that year. In the meantime, Microsoft submitted an application in May 2002 to patent some key elements of music players, including song menu software.

There are a number of portable music players on the market but the iPod dominates, accounting for three out of every four portable music players sold in the US and contributing almost one third of Apple’s total sales. Piper Jaffray, the US analysts, predicts that Apple will sell 25 million iPods this year, bringing the total sold in the four years since launch to 35 million.

News of the dispute over the patent emerged – surprise surprise – on a blog, Appleinsider, which has run spoilers on Apple products in the past. It could lead to Apple having to pay a licence fee for the technology of up to $10 per machine.

A spokesperson said Apple would continue to try and get its patent recognised and could take the case to the patent office’s appeals board. The company said in a statement, “Apple invented and publicly released the iPod interface before the Micosoft application was filed.”

Micrsoft is also taking on Google in the courts. Microsoft launched a lawsuit against the search engine last month, accusing it of poaching a top executive to head a new research laboratory in China.