Microsoft appeals Eolas decision
C|Net | at | by Mike
Microsoft filed a brief, asking the U.S. Court of Appeals to overturn a $565 million patent infringement judgment. The 174-page document, filed June 3, attacks a U.S. District Court decision that said Microsoft violated a patent, owned by the University of California and its Eolas spinoff. The patent describes how a Web browser can run plug-in applications.
Microsoft filed its appeal, as the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office is pursuing a re-examination of the UC patent. A preliminary finding issued in February by the patent office concurred with claims by standards body the World Wide Web Consortium and others that the patent was improperly granted because of pre-existing similar inventions, or "prior art," by software developer Dave Raggett.