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Microsoft loses infringement case | |
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| Time: 20:06 EST/01:06 GMT | News Source: Associated Press | Posted By: Todd Richardson | ||
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A federal jury awarded a Chicago-based software company and the University of California more than $520 million in damages Monday after finding that Microsoft Corp.’s popular Internet Explorer browser infringed on a patent. MICROSOFT ATTORNEY ANDY Culbert said that the jury’s finding would be appealed. The jury could have awarded as much as $1.2 billion to the university and Eolas Technologies Inc. of Chicago. “We are very satisfied,” said Eolas attorney Martin R. Lueck. “It shows the jury system works. Patents need to be respected regardless of the size and the market power of the company involved.” | ||
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| #1 By 116 (66.69.248.206) at 8/11/2003 9:34:38 PM |
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Ouch.
1.2 billion... And SCO is asking only 3 from IBM? IBM better hope it doesn't got to a jury trial with Boies on board. |
| #2 By 135 (208.186.90.91) at 8/11/2003 9:50:07 PM |
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I think the larger point is that Mozilla, KDE, Opera, etc. all violate this patent as well.
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| #3 By 6253 (64.204.105.163) at 8/11/2003 9:57:57 PM |
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Except that it's impossible to sue Mozilla, KDE, Opera, etc. for $520 million because the combination of all of them is worth less than a tenth of that.
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| #4 By 1643 (65.40.197.179) at 8/11/2003 11:27:20 PM |
| but why just pick on MS #3, everyone should be accountable...right? |
| #5 By 20 (67.9.179.51) at 8/11/2003 11:27:50 PM |
| You could charge license fees to anyone who uses Mozilla/KDE/Opera, though. |
| #6 By 2459 (69.22.78.116) at 8/11/2003 11:41:02 PM |
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Here's MS' response:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/legal/other/08-11-03EolasStatement.asp "While today’s outcome is disappointing, we do plan to appeal this decision and we are confident the facts and the law will support our position. It’s important to note that the court has already rejected claims that there was any willful infringement. We believe the evidence will ultimately show that there was no infringement of any kind, and that the accused feature in our browser technology was developed by our own engineers based on pre-existing Microsoft technology." |
| #7 By 9589 (66.57.63.97) at 8/12/2003 2:47:43 AM |
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Yipes! Another Pirahana nibbles at a big fish. Interesting that a similiar small company by the name of Caldera reaped an undisclosed bounty from Microsoft several years ago now and is wreaking havoc on the open source community with another IP lawsuit. There new name is, of course, SCO!
By the way, Caldera went after Microsoft in mid '96 and didn't obtain an out of court settlement until '00. While there will certainly be cheering from Internet destinations like the staunch defenders of IP, Slasdot, to those once "on top of the world" (snicker) halls of Sun Microsystems, it ain't over until the fat lady sings. Oh! That undisclosed bounty was estimated at about 3 cents of Microsoft's March 2000 quarter. Or about as much as a certain Cupertino company has probably made in profits in its entire lifetime. LOL |
| #8 By 3653 (209.149.57.116) at 8/12/2003 2:51:51 AM |
| Not that the final award will be anything close to $520M, but even if it is... it only takes Microsoft 2 weeks to have that much profit (not revenue, mind you). |
| #9 By 12071 (203.217.20.207) at 8/12/2003 9:06:56 AM |
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#8 "staunch defenders of IP, Slasdot"
Right.... Do you read much on slashdot (enough to spell it correctly at least)? Or do you just go on other people's comments? I believe you will find that the greater majority of posters on slashdot oppose IP/patents etc expecially given the ludicrous number of ridicolously vague patents that are approved each year and then used later for either defense purposes or to try and stay alive/make a quick buck. |
| #10 By 2231 (164.86.99.3) at 8/12/2003 9:26:29 AM |
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Is money the real issue here? The $520 is a penalty for past unauthorized use of the patents.
Nothing requires Eolas to license the patents to MS in the future. What would this mean for IE and Windows if the patent infringing components had to be removed? Does MS have a backup plan? |
| #11 By 9589 (68.17.52.2) at 8/12/2003 9:50:12 AM |
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#10 - the board's spell check - what's next grammar lessons?
By the way, do you mean articles like this one on slasdot? http://slashdot.org/articles/01/05/15/2138208.shtml I punched in "slashdot and intellectual property" on Google and that was the article at the top of the list. If this guy is representative of slasdot, then you've got some 'splaining to do! |
| #12 By 135 (209.180.28.6) at 8/12/2003 10:38:40 AM |
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holedup - "Except that it's impossible to sue Mozilla, KDE, Opera, etc. for $520 million because the combination of all of them is worth less than a tenth of that. "
You are naive. Even if they sued for $500,000, the individual developers working on Open Source projects would be liable because there is no corporate entity protecting them. kabuki - "I believe you will find that the greater majority of posters on slashdot oppose IP/patents etc expecially given the ludicrous number of ridicolously vague patents that are approved each year and then used later for either defense purposes or to try and stay alive/make a quick buck. " Yeah, you would think so and if they weren't hypocrites they wouldn't be going around cheering about this. But then that's michael on slashdot. |
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