But you know who all be winners? Apple and Creative Labs, who claim to have come to an "amicable" $100 million settlement of Creative Labs' claims of patent infringement against the iPod's technique of navigating through your songs (you know, push the middle button a bunch of times, and then scroll with your finger until you overshoot the band whose name starts with M that you wanted to hear and end up at "ZZ Top" instead.)

Steve Jobs said, presumably through gritted teeth and with the rest of his staff cringing in fear:

"Creative is very fortunate to have been granted this early patent. This settlement resolves all of our differences with Creative, including the five lawsuits currently pending between the companies, and removes the uncertainty and distraction of prolonged litigation."

It helps that Apple made $472 million in profits this quarter, and they worked out a deal where Apple gets some money back if Creative licenses its patents to other companies. Creative stock, on the other hand, will go up 85 cents a share as a result of the deal, and their stock shot up 37% today after the deal was announced.

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