Could patent law be any more absurd? Perhaps we’re on the wrong end of it, but it seems that the only tangible result of modern patent law is a string of nuisance lawsuits in which one company attempts to rob consumers of a product they enjoy by suing a company that has made an ostensibly similar competing device. Re: Blackberry. But now, Creative vs. Apple.

Creative is now claiming that the iPod breaches a patent on the always-inferior Zen. The patent, dated August 9, 2005 (note to the astute: a patent filed four years after the iPod revolutionized mp3 players), is “for [Creative’s] invention of the user interface used by most portable digital-media players.”

In other words, Creative is claiming to own menus. They are asking the ITC to halt all sales on iPod products until the case shakes out. Yeah, we’re sure that’s going to happen.

Creative sues Apple over patents [Market Watch]

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