Behind the scenes stories: after a legal settlement involving iPods, Steve Jobs wanted to patent any and all ideas

The current patent war looks more like an endless fight. Every day, more and more processes are opened around the world, whether by Patent trolls (companies that use patents and processes as a form of business) or by dueling titans like Apple, Samsung and Google – through their subsidiary, Motorola.

Patent War

In 2006, Creative Technology, a leader in the MP3 player market until the iPod was launched, sued Apple for its hitherto newly approved patent that defines hierarchical music viewing – the Cupertino giant entered into a $ 100 million deal with the company.

According to a former Apple executive, who spoke with New York Times, this episode served as a warning to Steve Jobs. Since then, the former Apple CEO has decided to implement a policy of patenting everything, as a way to protect himself before the imminent arrival of the iPhone, which was still under development.

His attitude was that if someone at Apple can dream about something, then they should apply for a patent, because even if we never built it, it would be a defense tool.

Chart of processes involving relatives (technology)

To date, several patent battles are fought in courts around the world, and a lot of money is involved. The newspaper even pointed out that both Apple and Google today spend more on patent-related lawsuits than on Research and Development (R&D).

[via Electronista, Ars Technica]