Microsoft, Eolas settle patent dispute
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A years-long legal battle over Web browser technology is over, but neither Microsoft or Eolas is talking about details.
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Microsoft Corp on Monday announced antitrust settlements with Novell Inc. and the Computer and Communications Industry Association (CCIA), ending years of legal wrangling.
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Microsoft Corp has settled antitrust differences with the Computer &amp; Communications Industry Association and Novell Inc, clearing the way for its appeal against the European Commission&#39;s antitrust commission.
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The latest status report on Microsoft Corp.'s compliance with an antitrust settlement in the U.S. has cleared the company of a separate accusation of not complying with orders to disclose information to make its products more interoperable.
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Software giant Microsoft Corp. and UK-based cell phone maker Sendo Holdings plc. on Monday reached a settlement to their intellectual property dispute over a failed smart-phone partnership between the two companies.
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Undisclosed payment over rights violation claim Microsoft has settled a long-running patent infringement suit with Eolas and the University of California in a case which has been running since 1999. Microsoft will make an undisclosed payment to Eolas.â¦
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Microsoft settled litigation with Sendo, a privately held British mobile phone maker, over a contract dispute between the two companies, Sendo said Monday.
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Microsoft Corp. and Sendo Holdings PLC said Monday they have settled litigation between them, and that Microsoft has surrendered its shareholding in the British mobile telephone company.
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BRUSSELS Microsoft said Monday that it had reached legal settlements with two of its biggest adversaries in the software industry, Novell and the Computer and Communications Industry Association.
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Blog: One of the many companies defending itself against a patent lawsuit filed by Visto has settled for an undisclosed amount.
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SEATTLE/NEW YORK  - Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O said  on Monday it had agreed to settle antitrust lawsuits with  Novell Inc. NOVL.O and an industry trade group, marking the  end of a decade-long antitrust battle.
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Microsoft Corp. settled legal disputes yesterday with two of its largest remaining antagonists, ensuring that its antitrust deal with the Justice Department will not be appealed to the US
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(InfoWorld) - Just when it seemed certain Microsoft had lost its now 8-year-old patent dispute with Eolas Technologies, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) has reopened the case, giving Microsoft a chance to prove that Eolas' patent for browser plug-ins should not be valid. Microsoft confirmed Friday that the USPTO will consider the company's argument that it was the first to invent the technology the Eolas patent covers, declaring "interference" in the case and scheduling a rehearing. There now will be a separate proceeding in the USPTO on the question of who owns the patent claims, said Jack Evans, a Microsoft spokesman. Andy Culbert, Microsoft associate general counsel, said the company is pleased to have another opportunity to establish that it is the original inventor of the disputed technology. The news is the latest twist in a case that began in 1999, when Eolas first filed suit against Microsoft for infringing on its patent for embedding interactive content in a Web site. Eolas said Microsoft violated its patent in its implementation of ActiveX in Internet Explorer. Eolas, a spin-off of the University of California, was awarded a $520.6 million judgment in August 2003. However, an appeals court threw out that ruling in March 2005 and ordered a new trial to determine the patent's validity. In September 2005, the USPTO upheld Eolas' patent. Disputes over U.S. patents appear to be coming to a crucial crossroads, with patent litigation running rampant and increasing polarization between those who seek strong software patents and those who think that software should not be patentable. Microsoft recently heated up the debate when company executives said in a magazine article that it would aggressively seek royalties for patents the company says it holds for technologies in open source software. Some think U.S. lawmakers should enact patent reform laws to minimize litigation or prevent patent cases from dragging on for years. The Supreme Court recently made it a little more difficult for companies to prove that their patents are valid in an instance where there could be many competitors trying to solve the same problem. In an April 30 ruling in the case KSR v. Teleflex, the Court weakened the position of a patent holder if it created a technology that another company may have invented previously or around the same time, but did not yet file for a patent.ADVERTISEMENTIBM Information On Demand 2006Industrial Industry Leaders, please join us at IBM's premier information management global event, IBM Information On Demand 2006, October 15-20, Anaheim, CA. More IBM business and technical solutions content in one place than ever before! Select from  over 800 sessions. Register today!
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SEATTLE/NEW YORK  - Microsoft Corp. MSFT.O said  on Monday said it will pay $536 million to its smaller rival  Novell Inc. NOVL.O to settle an antitrust suit and resolved a  10-year dispute with a computer trade group.
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft has agreed to settle a multimillion dollar lawsuit brought by thousands of Iowa consumers and businesses who say the company's anticompetitive practices forced them to pay inflated prices for software including Microsoft's Windows, Word and Excel. Seven years after it was filed, the class-action suit finally began on Dec. 1 in a Des Moines, Iowa, courtroom. Microsoft agreed to settle before the jury reached a verdict. Neither the company nor the plaintiffs' law firm announced the amount that Microsoft agreed to pay, but the suit had originally asked for $329 million in damages. In a statement, Microsoft said the terms of the settlement would not be disclosed until judges approve the agreement during hearings in April and August. The case covers Iowa residents who bought certain OS and application software between May 18, 1994, and June 30, 2006. Microsoft also agreed to pay half of any unclaimed proceeds to the Iowa Department of Education, to be used for bridging the digital and technical divide in Iowa schools through the purchase of computer hardware and software, according to a statement by Rich Wallis, associate general counsel for Microsoft. Customers across the U.S. filed dozens of antitrust class-action suits against Microsoft, but this was only the second one to go to trial, according to a statement by the plaintiffs' law firm, Zelle, Hofmann, Voelbel, Mason and Gette. Microsoft also agree to settle a Minnesota case for $182 million before it reached a verdict. In 2001, Microsoft agreed to settle a lawsuit brought by the U.S. Department of Justice and the attorneys general for 19 states, the company said. Microsoft has also reached settlements with three more state governments. Whereas all those cases alleged that Microsoft harmed competition by including certain applications in its OS (thus essentially barring other software vendors from the market), the Iowa and Minnesota cases allege that Microsoft used its enormous market share to overcharge consumers. The only remaining private class-action lawsuit of that type is in Mississippi, according to Microsoft. Microsoft has denied overcharging those customers. "During our opening this week, we showed the real reasons for Microsoft's success. We demonstrated that the plaintiffs' core allegations in this case are decades old, long resolved and have no impact on the issues in this case," Wallis said when the Iowa case opened in December. "The majority of the plaintiffs' claims predate the class period in this case. The allegations that came afterward were addressed by the government case eight years ago. Microsoft accepted responsibility, changed its practices, and to this day we continue to live and work under a consent decree." The Microsoft operating systems covered in this case include MS-DOS, Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows 98 Second Edition, Windows Millennium Edition, Windows for Workgroups, Windows NT Workstation, Windows 2000 and Windows XP. The applications include Word, Excel and Office versions designed for computers with the above MS-DOS or Windows operating systems. Â
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(InfoWorld) - Microsoft won a round in its battle with patent licensing company Timeline. On May 29, the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington dismissed Timeline's accusations of patent infringement, ruling that Microsoft's patent licensing agreement with Timeline is valid. The case dates back to 2005 when Timeline sued ProClarity for patent infringement. A few months later, Microsoft acquired ProClarity, and shortly after that, Timeline added Microsoft to the ProClarity suit. In the suit, Timeline claimed to have terminated its contract with Microsoft based on breach of contract and charged the software giant with patent infringement. In the May 29 ruling, the judge decided that Timeline couldn't terminate the licensing agreement based on its breach of contract claims. As a result, the court ruled that the licensing agreement was valid and thus Microsoft wasn't infringing on any patents. Since the ruling, Timeline filed a breach of contract suit against Microsoft in Washington State Superior Court, it said in a June 4 press release. It also may appeal the district court ruling. Microsoft lost an earlier separate battle against Timeline. In 2002, an appeals court ruled that Microsoft couldn't allow its customers to combine their own code with Microsoft products if the added code resulted in a process that infringed Timeline's patent. The Timeline patents relate to technology used in database software, and Microsoft used them in its Small Business Financial Manager product. Timeline recently changed its focus from a developer of software applications to a company dedicated to licensing its intellectual property. Timeline did not return calls seeking comment. Microsoft also has not replied to requests for comment.
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Microsoft and mobile phone maker Sendo Holdings this week said that they have settled legal disputes stemming from a failed project in which Sendo was to produce the first advanced handset running a mobile version of Windows.