Tuesday, December 14, 1999

Creative vs. Aureal verdict -- 4:15 pm CST, Update by The Master

Well, it looks like Creative's corporate greed didn't quite pull it through in the courthouse. Aureal was cleared of all charges, and posted the following to their website:

Fremont, CAâ€"December 13, 1999â€"(OTC Bulletin Board: AURL) Aureal Inc., a leader in digital audio imaging, today announced a clear jury verdict against Creative Technology Inc. and its subsidiary Emu Systems. The federal court jury unanimously rejected Creative's claims that Aureal's Vortex chips infringed the Creative 5,342,990 patent. Creative brought this case against Aureal in February, 1998, one day after Aureal announced that its Vortex chip would be used by Dell Computer in the Dimension product line. The patent claims brought against Aureal by Creative in this case were all rejected by the jury.

"Aureal has said from the start that the Vortex products do not infringe the patent and that the case is motivated by Creative's need to diminish competition in the marketplace at all costs" said Kip Kokinakis, CEO and President of Aureal Inc. "It is a great victory for Aureal, but also a victory for innovation and competition that we did not yield to a company with vast resources and an intent to eliminate our ability to bring new and exciting products to the market. We can now turn our undivided attention to compete in the marketplace where our products and technology speak for themselves, rather than in the courtroom."

Now, personally, I like my SB: Live! Value. And I like Windows NT. But I don't like monopolists. And Creative has been one in the sound market for WAY too long...

News for 12/14/1999

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