"A near three-year-long attempt by Apple Computer to patent the menu-based software interface of its popular iPod digital music player has ultimately proved unsuccessful, AppleInsider has discovered. The company's patent application, which lists Apple vice president Jeff Robbin and Apple chief executive Steve Jobs as two of its primary inventors, received a final rejection last month from the United States Patent and Trademark Office.
"Standing in Apple's way appears to be a prior filing by inventor John Platt, who submitted a patent application for a similar software design for a portable device in May of 2002 -- just five months before Robbin submitted his claims on behalf of Apple."
Comment: as the article notes, Jeff Robbin used to work for Casady & Greene, which developed the SoundJam MP3 player software that Apple bought and "re-branded as iTunes after hiring Robbin".
Update: It turns out that Platt is a Microsoft reserarcher, and that he filed his patent application after the iPod was released, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports.
