Apple has failed to convince the Taiwanese court that local manufacturer Luxpro's white digital music player is a rip off of its own first-generation iPod Shuffle. The Shihlin District Court instead ruled that the two products are clearly different.

You can see Apple's point: Luxpro's Tanger player, like the first Shuffle, is long, thin and white, and the two are much the same size. Both have a full-size USB connector and a cap to cover it.

Apple complained to the Taiwanese court in July 2005. However, the Luxpro player's OLED screen, FM radio and clear Luxpro logo are sufficient to make it stand out from the now-defunct first-generation Shuffle, according to Luxpro. The two products are "sufficiently dissimilar".

In a statement, Luxpro chairman Fu-Ching Wu said the company is now filed for $100m in damages from the "valuable market opportunities" the firm alleges it lost as a result of Apple's action. ®