“According to AppleInsider, a patent filed in 2002 by a Microsoft researcher has prompted the US Patent and Trademark Office to reject an Apple application to patent its iPod user interface. But leave the black helicopters grounded for a moment: the conspiracy theories may not be flightworthy,” Andrew Orlowski reports for The Register.

“The AppleInsider story says the Apple application ‘to patent the menu-based software interface of its popular iPod digital music player has ultimately proved unsuccessful.’ However that isn’t the case. The story is coy about the patents it discusses, doesn’t mention the Microsoft connection and upon further research, it’s clear that several key aspects of the iPod are adequately covered by separate Apple IP applications. Both patents discussed have weathered multiple rejections by the USPTO,” Orlowski reports.

Orlowski reports, “The story reports that last month an iPod-related patent application for ‘rotational user inputs’ by Apple was rejected, with the examiner citing an earlier 2002 application filed by John Platt. A Microsoft Research scientist who used to work for touch pad vendor Synaptics, Platt filed a claim for ‘playlist generation based on seed items’ on May 30 2002, some seven months after the iPod was unveiled.”

Full article here.
Like we said in response to the earlier related article, this one will work itself out eventually.

Related articles:
Apple’s patent application for Pod’s menu-based software interface rejected – August 09, 2005