Patent Suit Filed Against Apple Over iTunes Interface

[hulugu]

It seems like the majority of posts don't particularly like this suit. Everyone seems to think that the patent was obvious...if you actually take a look at the patent, however, it was filed in 1995. I don't think anyone envisioned the type of music system the patent discloses back then - the inventor obviously had a real flash of genius when he came up with.

In addition, if you look at the claims, the iTunes / iPod is dead on.

And also remember that this patent had to get past a trained examiner at the USPTO before it issued, which means that in 1995 that examiner could not find anything obvious about it.

I'd say Apple is going to pay Mr. Contois a lot of money, and rightly so. I only wish I had come up with something like this back then!

But, this is entirely the problem with the Patent system, the guy asked for a patent—vague as it is—in 1995 and didn't bring anything to market. The patent system is there to protect innovation until it can be brought to market so that the originator can make an initial profit on his idea, but this monopoly should only be temporary.
Should every new idea be tested against all the possible iterations in the Patent Office's qeue? The Patent System is totally busted and this is just yet another symptom.