iPod Inventor Receives Credit, No Cash
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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Comments
wurst
I GOT DA BOOTY JUICE!
Seriously, you're running a legal blog and you can't spell "Receives" correctly in the title of the post? Wow.
"the Farnsworth bin of history"?
I thought that's where your legal career ended up if you couldn't handle a class with E. Allan Farnsworth?
I agree with what No. 3 said--simply shocking.
Way to edit, Elie. Spellchecking never hurt.
-3
Are you supposed to capitalize practice group areas?
For example, do you write the Corporate Group or corporate group?
Interesting question 7, but 3 has a more pertinent query.
"And with that Kramer might well have been discard into the Farnworth bin of history"
After he discover Apple rip off his idea, Kramer ask Mr. Jobs for the money he was owe.
dump elie
You think you so smart coz you know words, 9.
I don't like Elie
booooooooooooooooo
Ok, so there was a blatant spelling error. But give credit where it is due, this post wasn't that bad.
No, no, 4, it's Philo Farnsworth, who invented TV, and then had to fight RCA for it ...
http://www.bairdtelevision.com/farnsworth.html
Pretty sure this call recording system already exists: http://www.thrillist.com/archives/2008/08/system_of_proof_nation_culture_gadgets_services.html
Any guess as to where Elie would have gone to law school but for 'diversity', rutgers?
ugh. [shaking head] And I only got into Fordham.
17 Concord Law
This was a good post, but I doubt it was Elie's idea. I would get fired for the lack of attention to detail he displays.
Yep--if it wasn't for "diversity" policies, all of the mediocre white guys at ATL who can spell "receives" correctly (and little else) would have taken their rightful places at HYS.
". . . really want Apple to give Kramer enough money to that he never feels the need to work again."
The second "to" should be "so." Proofread much? I can't take it anymore.
"This invention would be the anti-iPod, it would break-up families and ruin lives."
A semi-colon would be appropriate instead of the comma.
I freakin' hate grammarians.
Modern word processors have made you all obsolete.
I have good grammar and spelling when I am PAID to have good grammar and spelling.
In a more just world, the worker would own the product he manufacturers! From each according to his ability, and to each according to his needs! Proletariat now!
- Pinko Elie Mystal
Advice to Elie: QUIT!!!!!!!!!!! You are an atrocious writer! You show no respect for your audience by not proofreading. You should start writing children's books instead...or go work on the Osama campaign
Bravo 24! This is a blog for pete's sake, not a freaking law document.
I think he should write an entire post in text message language and see how many people can understand it without griping about colons, semicolons, commas and spelling.
Leave Elie alone!! Go back to GULC and worry about not getting any offers and having to wipe S& C's ass for the rest of your lives.
Yes, 26, because we ALL want our children to learn incorrect grammar from Elie.
Elie: this is the official call for your LSAT score and undergraduate GPA. Anyone second my motion?
There was something SERIOUSLY wrong if they could not get together the $$ to renew even just the US patent. That like.....two or three thousand dollars. Half that for a "small entity".
There must have been a lot wrong over there...
29, but if they learn from Elie, they have a chance of getting into HLS.
-26
Elie: this is the official call for your LSAT score and undergraduate GPA. Anyone second my motion?
Elie isn't here to create "good writing."
Hes here to post interesting and random crap for us to all make snarky comments about and manybe email around. Thats it.
There are typos in my post. Gess what: WHO CARES. I ain't fixing it. Find a girlfriend.
24: if modern word processors have made us obsolete, then why can't Elie spell or write in proper English to save his life? Shouldn't his computer have picked up all the ugly mistakes he dumped into this post before he shared it with us?
And 27, even though this is a blog, it is not a tweener's myspace page. Lawyers make up the intended audience of this blog, and if you haven't noticed, lawyers are anal about things like spelling and grammar. They don't want to read shit that sounds dumb. Why don't you go ahead and see how many lawyers will read your text-message blog, then report back to us.
35 - YOUR shit sounds dumb.
Elie - Although some commentators are busting your balls about a spelling error in this piece, this is hardly the first time. Please show a little respect and run spell check before you submit.
35 - You are an absolute loser. Get a life.
Y'all are going to loose your jobs because you don't know anything about patent law, the only area hiring anymore.
Bring back SEN!!!
I agree with 35.
I agree with 35. Directly on point
35 -- Go back to being Aaron Charney's fluffer and leave us alone.
I agree that ATL is not the place for Strunk & White pissing contests, but Elie obviously does not proofread his posts, which, short as they are, would take less than five minutes apiece to proof.
Elie, you are a writer now, for f^ck's sake. Proof your shit. It's not asking a lot.
I think 35 is posting that (s)he agrees with himself.
Sad lonely $%^#$^.
While we're on the subject of AA, slavery was sort of like affirmative action for the South. If it weren't for the mass of forced labor, people in Georgia would still be wiping their ass with leaves and using their teeth to pick ticks out of each other's fur.
Instead, the crutch of slavery allowed a bunch of smelly, failed human beings to survive, produce offspring, and even build cities. So affirmative action isn't necessarily a bad thing!
44=/=35. That's a very elegant sentence you got there, 44.
- 44
replace elie
jesus this is bad
Nope, that was not me. I know you're so very surprised that other people agree with me and think it's annoying when the editor of this blog can't do his damn job and edit things, but, see, some of us are intelligent people who notice obvious mistakes in basic grammar, whereas you are not, which is why you feel so pissy when others talk about it. It's ok, we understand.
-35
Elie, all that praise yesterday got to your head, eh? Don't go back to the dark side on us. Proofread, motherf^cker!
The spelling errors are annoying, but I would assume this is a transitional bug. I'd imagine it's harder to spell check in HTML or whatever platform one uses to post on a blog. So far I think the content has been good and is only improving. In my opinin, the grammar police are far more irritating than the typos. Do we not recall that Elie actually won a contest (anonymously) and was voted in on his merits? I must admit I'm stunned at what looks like the resentment of people who ostensibly voted for someone they couldn't see and now can't help discounting his efforts/viewpoint because he's black. The content looks better to me than it did back when I voted for Sophist.
46, please locate the nearest bottle of clorox bleach and proceed to consume the entire thing, posthaste.
For the people who think Elie got into Harvard based solely on AA, just know that he did not take your space because you all went to TTT schools. That said Elie clean it up because these are relatively short posts.
leave ellie alone. He's a 30 year old Ivy law graduate and former big firm grip who trolls the web for stuff about the law , puts a little spin on it and places it on the board for all you bitches to read.
Update: those "failed" human beings 46 mentioned now make up 97% of the Bush administration.
What's with the violent reaction to recording phone calls?
Any number of conferencing applications (e.g., Meetingplace, Soundpath) allow digital recording of telephone calls that can be instantly emailed to whomever.
put a black person in any position of power and all of a sudden his or her capabilities are immediately suspect. Seriously - get off it and get over it.
Who is black?
The grammar nazi commentators are ruining this blog.
58: no one yells "affirmative action" when Lat posts. His impeccable posts and obvious record of achievement preclude it. Mystal's... uh... rather "peccable" posts INVITE speculation as to the basis of his advancement.
Forget the grammar mistakes. Let's focus on coherence and basic reading comprehension. Because Elie really has no idea what's going on.
Two problems:
1) "Audio file" clearly does not equal "auto-emailed transcript."
2) Emailing audio files from phones is not something new. When I get a voicemail it shows up as an audio file in my email. Whoopee! This guy might be working on a new application, but it doesn't sound like a big deal.
53,
I'm having a little trouble chewing through the plastic bottle. May I decant the contents into a martini shaker and simply mix myself a few bleach cocktails?
Glad I managed to piss someone off, though. The only effective antidote to disgusting commentary is even more disgusting commentary.
-46
DAMMIT!!!
DON'T ANY OF YOU PEOPLE WANNA DISCUSS IP LAW AND iPODS?!?!?!?!
Ah well.
Dang grammarians. Don't know about anything useful.
-IPGeekNYC.
Elie should post his LSAT and UGPA to prove he didn't get into HLS because of AA. Satisfy both sides of this idiotic argument.
Who cares if he got into HLS because of AA. George Bush got in to HBS because his daddy was rich. Lay off Elie.
u gramA nazis r 2 anal 4 wrds. Did yr D-cell batts run ot lst nyt?
When was the last time you checked out Chik-fil-a's billboards if you are concerned about things that sound dumb?
I'm not a law student or a lawyer. Now please correct my grammar, spelling and punctuation. Let's not talk about Ipods, I don't like them.
this article is hot it is so hot im swetting
wasup mi homies
nm u?