The company that produces the famous music player was forced to acknowledge that a British technology is behind the device.
Apple acknowledged that at the base of the popular iPod lays the technology invented by a British inventor named Kane Kramer, 52 years old, but has not so far received any money from the sale of the device, according to "Daily Mail". Kramer thought a similar device in 1979, when he was only 23 years old.
The Apple company was forced to admit that Britain is the parent of iPod, after being attacked in the cout of law by the company Burst, which argued that it holds the technology patent for the music player.
Without any other solution, the lawyers of Apple have brought Kramer himself to testify in court in their favor. Furthermore, they have shown in the trial the resarch and its plans related to product. "I was very pleased by the fact that finally i was recocnized as the inventor of a device that changed the music industry", said Kramer.
IXI, iPod's ancestor
The device invented 30 years ago in the UK, called IXI, could store only 3.5 minutes of music on a chip. Its drafts show a player the size of a credit card with a rectangular screen and a central menu, very similar to iPod. At that time, the British has obtained a license for his invention, but in 1998, when it expired, Kramer didn't have the over 100,000 U.S. dollars needed for the its renewal in the 120 countries in which it was recognized.
Thus, IXI technology has become public property, being taken over by Apple and used in the manufacture of iPod. Since its launch in 2001, iPod has been sold in over 163 million units.
This music player is one of the most successful gadgets products along time, along with phones Nokia 1100 and Motorola RAZR or the games console PlayStation 2.
While Apple prospers, Kramer tries hard to maintain his family - his wife and three children. Last year, he had to close his furniture company that went bad and to move into a rented flat.
However, after the help offered by Apple in the lawsuit with Burst, the Americans negotiated with Kramer the offering of a compensation related to the rights of its iPod technology and offered him a post as expert consultant.
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