Microsoft ordered to pay $521m

SpinnerSpinner Birmingham, UK
edited August 2003 in Science & Tech
A Chicago federal court has passed a ruling that Microsoft must pay the sum of $512m to a Web technology company and the University of California, after finding the software giant's Internet Explorer browser infringed on their patents.
The company, called Eolas Technologies, originally filed suit against Microsoft in 1999, alleging that the Redmond, Wash., giant infringed on its patents when enabling Internet Explorer to use plug-ins and applets in the software. The company's technology was first outlined in a patent application in the early 1990s

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The University of California will receive 25 percent of the proceeds from the verdict, while Eolas will obtain the rest, minus legal fees and costs, Lueck said. The university owns the patents for the technology, which it licensed to Eolas in 1994. Eolas has one formal employee, Mike Doyle, who is a former University of California researcher.

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Eolas claimed that Microsoft's patent infringement allowed the software giant to win the browser war against Netscape Communications. Microsoft in May said it would pay AOL Time Warner $750 million to settle a lawsuit brought on by America Online subsidiary Netscape.


The full report:
http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-5062409.html?tag=fd_top

Comments

  • SputnikSputnik Worcester, MA
    edited August 2003
    chump change..... the money that they've made on IE alone will pay for that many times over
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