Apple pays Creative $100 million to settle patent dispute

I never thought that this would happen. Creative made a bold move by suing Apple for patent infringement dealing with the hierarchical way that menus are displayed on music players. After a short fight in relative terms, Apple has agreed to pay Creative $100 million to settle all of the patent litigation between the companies. As part of the settlement Apple gets a license to use the technology in question.

When Creative made the move initially, it was widely speculated that it was a play to boost a share price that was struggling under massive market pressure. If that was the goal, then it was certainly successful.

The stock jumped 37% after the announcement of the settlement, and it is likely to keep climbing as the company has also announced that it will start making iPod accessories. The settlement will add 85 cents of profit per share in this quarter. Not surprisingly, the impact on Apple’s stock was minimal.