Apple might be forced to pay royalties to arch nemesis Microsoft for every iPod that it sells! A mess up with patenting means that Microsoft is in a position to take as much as US$10 for every one of the music players that are sold. This is because the iPod was introduced in November 2001, but Apple did not bother until July 2002 to file a patent application. Bad news for them - Microsoft was first past the post and claimed ownership of some of the technology in May 2002. Now the U.S. Patent Office has ruled that Microsoft have the right to charge their competitors a license fee for each iPod sold. Needless to say, Apple plans to appeal the decision.