Patent Office Deals Blow to Microsoft, Internet Explorer

[mandy]

The U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) this week dealt Microsoft a blow that may not be a knock-out punch, but comes pretty close to hobbling its argument that Internet Explorer (IE) does not infringe on a Web browser patent

Microsoft will have to redesign IE, the most widely used Internet browser by far, if it loses the suit...

http://www.ecommercetimes.com/story/rDTB...orer.xhtml

[jezebel]

The law suit started back in 1999? I bet the lawyers have made enough to take early retirement.  :blinkie:

[mandy]

Update on this story:

The U.S. Supreme Court has decided not to hear a Microsoft appeal in the software company's ongoing Web browsing patent dispute with the University of California and Eolas Technologies.

Microsoft had already been dealt a $520.6 million judgement in the case two years ago, but appealed it on several fronts.

Now the case's focus shifts to the U.S. District Court in Chicago, which is examining the validity of the Eolas patent....

full article: http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,123334,00.asp

[mandy]

The quarrel between Microsoft and Eolas takes a strange turn with an announcement from Redmond that the Internet Explorer browser will be modified to change the way ActiveX controls are handled. The change "won't be as disruptive" as originally planned, Microsoft says.

... the extra mouse click would only be necessary if the user wanted to interact with the ActiveX control.

"The vast majority of sites and users won't be affected,"

full article:  http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,1895907,00.asp

Microsoft Developer Network white paper on the changes: http://msdn.microsoft.com/library/?url=/...ctivex.asp