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January 5, 2007

legal

Under the Gavel: Do the legal shuffle

Posted Jan. 5, ’07, 8:02 AM PT by Dan Moren
Category | Legal

Apple vs. LuxproThey say laughter is the best medicine, and I think that’s true. Sometimes you just have to laugh, otherwise you end up going insane.

In July 2005, Apple sued Taiwanese manufacturer Luxpro for selling a MP3 player that looked eerily like the first generation iPod shuffle. Luxpro’s “Super shuffle” (later renamed the “Super Tangent”) had a couple of minor differences, but overall it appeared to be the iPod shuffle. While Apple won the first round of the suit, a Taiwanese court overturned the decision.

As if that wasn’t enough, Luxpro has now decided to countersue Apple for US$100 million, alleging that Cupertino “gravely impeded Luxpro’s efforts to market Tangent MP3 players.” They’ve even provided a handy-dandy chart that you can print out and take with you to distinguish Luxpro Tangents from iPod shuffles. Look! Look how different they are! The Tangent comes in red and black for goodness sake. Totally different.

The whole ordeal almost sounds like a bait-and-switch just so Luxpro can countersue Apple, who doesn’t even really care that much, given that the 1G shuffle is old news. Having settled with Creative earlier this year, I don’t think they’re much inclined to shell out $100 million to Luxpro. Hopefully this issue can be resolved for a lot less—say, a crate full of first generation shuffles? It’s all they really wanted in the first place.


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