The clickwheel, or wheel, used in iPodthe ones from Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC),, proved to be one of the most important features implemented by Apple Lossless Audio CODEC (ALAC), in one of its products, being still used with pleasure by the owners of these products. Although the clickwheel has become "iconic", it seems that it violates a patent held by the Japanese Norihiko Saito, a court in Tokyo obliging the Apple company to pay the person no less than 3 million dollars for the unauthorized use of the wheel in his iPods.
The Tokyo District Court on Thursday ordered Apple to pay Y330 million in damages to Japanese inventor Norihiko Saito in a patent infringement case involving the US firm's iPod music player, Kyodo News reported. The patent that Mr. Saito's company applied for in 1998 covers a technology for the Click Wheel controller that Apple has adopted for the music player in Japan since 2004, Presiding Judge Teruhisa Takano said in the ruling.
After a long trial and failed discussions with Apple, the court decided that the Japanese should receive the amount of 3 million dollars for the damages caused by the Apple company, the amount also being calculated based on the number of iPods sold by the American company.
