Creative Looking to Enforce Zen Patent

Now that Creative has settled with Apple, it plans to go after everyone else that is infringing on their patent.
"There many MP3 player makers in the US market that are currently using the Zen technology, and there are also several cell phones that are music-enabled that are using the Zen patent," Craig McHugh, president of the company's Creative Labs Inc. unit, told Dow Jones Newswires. "We are very open to exploring amicable solutions with any company that uses the Zen patent. We are also ready to take the necessary steps to protect our intellectual property."

The number of products that use the method of display outlines in the Zen patent is large, to say the least. Nearly every portable music playing device out there uses it, and it has become the de facto standard, that will be very hard to replace with something new as it is also the most intuitive way to present information. But Creative will also focus on other things such as their line of accessories for portable music players.

Although the announcement that Creative will be joining Apple's "Made for iPod" program has been commented as "dilute its brand", McHugh dismissed this notion. "We haven't been able to market our products into the Apple ecosystem before. The program allows us to bring our (speaker and headphone) products in and work with the iPod, he said. They're all going under the Creative brand. This is a way to expand brand awareness. It's an opportunity, not a dilution."

If anything, the participation in the program, combined with Creative's own efforts in marketing is likely to result in increased sales of audio and speaker products, two segments that contribute 13% each to the company's total revenue.

"We believe there's a strong opportunity to expand our speaker and audio businesses," McHugh said. "There's a chance to make a stronger contribution in the future."