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Technology Stocks : Creative Labs (CREAF) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: Fred Mah who wrote (5845)	11/18/1997 6:07:00 AM
From: Pauline Starkweather	Respond to of 13925

All I had to wade through a lot of CHIP-SHOTS and JUNK to find something to link this message to but here it is!! 11/18/97 Creative Technology Denounces Aztech Claims PR Newswire, Tuesday, November 18, 1997 at 05:06 MILPITAS, Calif., Nov. 18 /PRNewswire/ -- Creative Technology Ltd. (NASDAQ:CREAF) today responded to a press release issued on the eve of Comdex Fall '97 - November 17, 1997 -- relating to purported patent claims of Aztech Systems Ltd. In its press release, Aztech had claimed that it had filed suitagainst Creative in the United States relating to an Aztech patent that was filed in February 1995 and granted in July 1997. Aztech has -- in another recent case -- previously been found by the highest court of Singapore to have violated Creative's intellectual property rights. In that case, despite the repeated sworn testimony of Aztech officials to the contrary, the highest court of Singapore found that Aztech had infringed Creative's copyright in Creative's firmware for its Sound Blaster(R) soundcard by disassembling it. This decision of the Singapore Court of Appeals has been publicized in press reports. The trial to determine what damages should be awarded against Aztech in that copyright case has recently been set and is scheduled to begin in June 1998. Creative expressed strong doubt as to the breadth and enforceability of Aztech's newly asserted patent claim -- and questioned its timing. "Patent claims in the United States are subject to a number of absolute defenses, some of which will invalidate a patent," said John Danforth, general counsel for Creative Labs, Inc., the U.S. subsidiary of Creative Technology. "In this case, we are highly confident, based on our analysis to date, that no valid patent claim by Aztech against Creative can exist. We are advised that Aztech's patent describes existing technology in other companies' products -- including Creative products -- that shipped years before the Aztech patent filing. We are further advised that, if this proves to be the case, Aztech's patent claims are, under U.S. patent law, invalid under prior art. Prior art is technology that has been shipped or publicly disclosed by another party prior to the filing of the patent in question." "The timing is curious," Mr. Danforth continued. "Aztech's press release comes on the eve of Comdex, without prior warning, over four months after the Aztech patent issued, and only a few months before Creative's trial against Aztech is to start in order to adjudicate damages in Creative's favor with respect to Creative's proven copyright claims against Aztech. We have not been served with a complaint. We intend, however, to vigorously defend against this lawsuit." Creative Technology Ltd. develops, manufactures and markets a wide array of advanced multimedia solutions for the PC, entertainment, education, music and productivity tools markets. The Company's products are marketed through both the original equipment manufacturers and retail channels under a variety of trademarks, including the "Blaster" family name. Sound Blaster has become the multimedia industry's de facto audio standard. Sound Blaster is an audio platform consisting of a sound card or chip set, software drivers and bundled software applications that enable PCs to produce high quality audio. Creative's corporate headquarters and primary manufacturing are based in Singapore, with sales, distribution and research and development being carried out through an extensive, global network of subsidiaries located in North America, Europe, Asia and Africa. Sound Blaster is a registered trademark of Creative Technology Ltd, in the U.S. and/or other countries. All other product names mentioned herein are trademarks of their respective owners and are hereby recognized as such. SOURCE Creative Technology Ltd.-0- 11/18/97 /CONTACT: John Danforth, Vice President and General Counsel of Creative Labs, Inc., 408-428-2380, jdanfort@creaf.com/

To: Fred Mah who wrote (5845)	11/18/1997 9:08:00 AM
From: Jon Tara	Read Replies (2) \| Respond to of 13925

Fred, this patent claim is pretty reduculous. There is definately prior art, and one of the companies that has the prior art is Microsoft. The function they have made a patent claim on is included as part of DirectSound. In fact, I would guess that Creative is simply using DirectSound to do this! Before DirectSound was introduced, Microsoft had mixer software that could do the same thing (mix various sampling rates) that was available for free download. (It was in their support area for sound-card developers, etc.) This has been available for a few years. Whether or not Microsoft has patented this I do not know. Hah! From Creative's press release: "We are advised that Aztech's patent describes existing technology in other companies' products -- including Creative products -- that shipped years before the Aztech patent filing. We are further advised that, if this proves to be the case, Aztech's patent claims are, under U.S. patent law, invalid under prior art. Prior art is technology that has been shipped or publicly disclosed by another party prior to the filing of the patent in question.'' "