Say 'bye-bye' to Luxpro's shuffle rip-off?


On Sunday, IGM reported on Apple's on-going efforts to stop Luxpro for marketing, selling and even displaying their "supershuffle," a rip of the wildly popular iPod shuffle. Today, DigiTimes reports that Luxpro's chances of surviving a legal challenge from Apple are dim at best:

Luxpro displayed its Super Shuffle MP3 player at CeBIT and drew concern from Apple for its similarities with the Apple-made iPod shuffle. According to an interview conducted by EDN [a Chinese-language newspaper], Luxpro said that although their product may look like the iPod shuffle, it differs internally and includes an FM radio and voice recorder. Luxpro's Chairman Fu-Ching Wu told EDN that patents do not cover appearance.

Nevertheless, the company is still displaying their "supershuffle" on their homepage.

Editor's note: This "product" shows all the design and market savvy of ABOSS' badly-done iPocket, which bore a resemblance to the iPod mini.

On the other hand, if the maxim "there's no such thing as bad publicity" is true, then Luxpro might not be as incredibly stupid as it looks. It also may turn out that the company has poisoned whatever customer good will it enjoyed or ever will...

What's your take?