Microsofts Software Patent fun!

Discussion in 'Serious' started by TheAnimus, 3 Mar 2005.

  1. TheAnimus

    TheAnimus Banned

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    The case revolved around a patent held by Eolas and the University of California (UC) which claimed to cover ways of making other software work seamlessly with web browsers.

    The most common example of such "plug-ins" allow the viewing of audio or video through the browser.

    The lower court had said the patent predated Microsoft's insertion of such capabilities into Explorer, and said it had to pay $1.47 for each unit of the Windows operating system shipped between November 1998 and September 2001.

    .....
    Microsoft had wanted to show the court another browser called Viola, designed by a student at UC a year before the patent was filed in 1994.

    It had also suggested that Mike Doyle, Eolas' founder and a former UC researcher, had intentionally concealed his knowledge of Viola when filing the patent claim.


    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/4314989.stm

    nice to see patents working as normal :D
    i think patents are hell for all parties involved, except lawyers, they are bread n butter to them.
     

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