Intellectual Property, Patents

iPod Inventor Receives Credit, No Cash

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Steve Jobs did not invent the iPod. Neither did Bibble.
No, the inventor of the iPod is Kane Kramer, a British guy who stored three and a half minutes of music on a microchip in 1979.
In fairness to Apple, they did not “steal” Kramer’s idea. According to the Daily Mail, Kramer set up a company to develop the iPod idea:

But in 1988, after a boardroom split, he was unable to raise the £60,000 needed to renew patents across 120 countries and the technology became public property.

Patent law: how good ideas are redistributed from kooky inventors to effective businessmen.
And with that Kramer might well have been discard into the Farnsworth bin of history.
But thanks to a dispute between Apple and Burst.com, Apple needed Kramer. Apple flew Kramer to California to give crucial testimony about the prior art behind the iPod. The dispute between Apple and Burst.com was settled out of court, but Apple is stuck with the price of admitting that the iPod was invented across the pond.
Why Biglaw associates should support Apple giving money to Kane Kramer, after the jump.


Apple has yet to actually pay a price, of course. They paid Kramer a consultancy fee for his testimony. But they are “negotiating” whether they have to give Kramer anything more than that. The patent-less Kramer is trying to wring some money out of Apple for his copyright in his original iPod drawings.
Here’s the kicker: Biglaw associates should really, really want Apple to give Kramer enough money to that he never feels the need to work again. Listen to what Kramer is working on next:

Called Monicall, it will allow people to have phone calls recorded and emailed to the various parties as an audio file. He said: ‘It will speed up business deals and provide a low-cost third-party witness to conversations and agreements. ‘A deal will be done on the phone and that is it – an audio file gets emailed over within 30 seconds.’

No, no, no, no. Auto-emailed transcripts of phone calls? Every phone call? Are you trying to kill first years? This invention would be the anti-iPod, it would break-up families and ruin lives.
Open Memo to Mr. Jobs: Pay the man. Pay the man now. I’m sure you can call it a charitable contribution and get a tax deduction.
Kramer invented the iPod? [Securing Innovation]
Apple admit Briton DID invent iPod, but he’s still not getting any money [Daily Mail]

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