Microsoft Settles a Dispute Over a Feature in Its Browser
WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (Bloomberg News) — Microsoft said Thursday that it had settled an eight-year patent dispute that resulted in a $521 million jury verdict against it. Terms of the accord were not disclosed.
The dispute centered on a feature within Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser that allows embedded links. The patent is owned by the University of California and licensed to Eolas Technologies, a closely held company formed by a university researcher, Michael Doyle.
“We’re pleased to be able to reach an amicable resolution in this long-running dispute,” said Jack Evans, a Microsoft spokesman.
In 2003, a Chicago jury said Microsoft had infringed the patent and awarded cash compensation based on sales of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. A federal appeals court overturned part of the verdict, giving Microsoft a second chance to argue that the patent is invalid because others had made the invention.
A retrial in the case, scheduled to begin last month in Chicago, was postponed for a month. Microsoft said at the time that it was negotiating a resolution.
The settlement was reported before the announcement by The Seattle Post-Intelligencer on its Web site.
A letter sent by Eolas Technologies’ chief operating officer, Mark Swords, announced the settlement. The letter, which was posted on the newspaper’s Web site, said an unspecified number of Eolas shareholders would receive $60 to $72 a share.
A lawyer for Eolas, Martin Lueck, said he could neither confirm nor deny that there had been a settlement. “There are still things that need to be done,” he said.
Microsoft challenged claims by Eolas and the university that they invented the technology used for embedded links that generate, for instance, a small window that gives a virtual tour of houses, vehicles or other items for sale. The university and Eolas, based in Wheaton, Ill., sued Microsoft for patent infringement in 1999.
Microsoft has been challenging the patent at the United States Patent and Trademark Office as well. The agency in May said it would consider whether Microsoft or Mr. Doyle was the first to invent the feature and thus entitled to the patent. The agency agreed to consider the matter after it reissued the Microsoft patent with new wording that mirrored what is written in the university’s patent.
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WASHINGTON, Aug. 30 (Bloomberg News) — Microsoft said Thursday that it had settled an eight-year patent dispute that resulted in a $521 million jury verdict against it. Terms of the accord were not disclosed.
The dispute centered on a feature within Microsoft’s Internet Explorer Web browser that allows embedded links. The patent is owned by the University of California and licensed to Eolas Technologies, a closely held company formed by a university researcher, Michael Doyle.
“We’re pleased to be able to reach an amicable resolution in this long-running dispute,” said Jack Evans, a Microsoft spokesman.
In 2003, a Chicago jury said Microsoft had infringed the patent and awarded cash compensation based on sales of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. A federal appeals court overturned part of the verdict, giving Microsoft a second chance to argue that the patent is invalid because others had made the invention.
A retrial in the case, scheduled to begin last month in Chicago, was postponed for a month. Microsoft said at the time that it was negotiating a resolution.
The settlement was reported before the announcement by The Seattle Post-Intelligencer on its Web site.
A letter sent by Eolas Technologies’ chief operating officer, Mark Swords, announced the settlement. The letter, which was posted on the newspaper’s Web site, said an unspecified number of Eolas shareholders would receive $60 to $72 a share.
A lawyer for Eolas, Martin Lueck, said he could neither confirm nor deny that there had been a settlement. “There are still things that need to be done,” he said.
Microsoft challenged claims by Eolas and the university that they invented the technology used for embedded links that generate, for instance, a small window that gives a virtual tour of houses, vehicles or other items for sale. The university and Eolas, based in Wheaton, Ill., sued Microsoft for patent infringement in 1999.
Microsoft has been challenging the patent at the United States Patent and Trademark Office as well. The agency in May said it would consider whether Microsoft or Mr. Doyle was the first to invent the feature and thus entitled to the patent. The agency agreed to consider the matter after it reissued the Microsoft patent with new wording that mirrored what is written in the university’s patent.
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http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/31/technology/31soft.html?ex=1346212800&en=2a4c540ee2f7ad9a&ei=5088&partner=rssnyt&emc=rss