Apple settles with Creative for $100m

Apple Computer has agreed to pay $100m (£53m) to a leading rival to end a legal dispute which threatened sales of its iPod music player.

In a joint statement released with Singapore-based technology firm Creative, Apple said the settlement would bring the curtain down on a series of tit-for-tat lawsuits which threatened to bog down both companies.

The dispute revolved around Creative's patent on a menu system for navigating through a music collection. The system was created in 2000, more than a year before Apple launched the iPod, which uses a similar method.

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