Amazon, Apple, Google, Yahoo! targeted in patent case

October 6, 2009
Eolas Technologies Inc.

Enlarge

A US technology company which won a patent case against software giant Microsoft filed suit on Tuesday against nearly two dozen other high-profile firms accusing them of violating the same patent. Adobe, Amazon, Apple, eBay, Google, Sun Microsystems, Texas Instruments, Yahoo! and YouTube were among the 23 companies named in the lawsuit filed in a Texas court by Eolas Technologies Inc.

A US technology company which won a patent case against software giant Microsoft filed suit on Tuesday against nearly two dozen other high-profile firms accusing them of violating the same patent.

Adobe, Amazon, Apple, eBay, , Sun Microsystems, Texas Instruments, Yahoo! and YouTube were among the 23 companies named in the lawsuit filed in a Texas court by Eolas Technologies Inc.

Eolas was awarded a 565-million-dollar judgment in a patent lawsuit against Microsoft in 2004 but ended up settling the dispute three years later for an undisclosed amount.

Microsoft was accused by Illinois-based Eolas of violating a patent held by the Illinois-based company in its .

In the latest suit, Eolas accused the 23 companies of violating the same patent as in the Microsoft case, its '906 patent which enables Web browsers to act as platforms for fully-interactive embedded applications.

They were also accused of violating Eolas's '985 patent, which the company described in a statement as a "continuation of the '906 patent."

"We developed these technologies over 15 years ago and demonstrated them widely, years before the marketplace had heard of interactive applications embedded in Web pages tapping into powerful remote resources," Eolas chairman Michael Doyle said.

"Profiting from someone else's innovation without payment is fundamentally unfair," Doyle said. "All we want is what's fair."

Mike McKool, lead counsel for Eolas, said "what distinguishes this case from most patent suits is that so many established companies named as defendants are infringing a patent that has been ruled valid by the Office on three occasions."

(c) 2009 AFP

4.2 /5 (6 votes)  

Filter


Move the slider to adjust rank threshold, so that you can hide some of the comments.


Display comments: newest first

x646d63
Oct 06, 2009

Rank: 5 / 5 (3)
Companies who sit on patents and wait for infringers to be successful should lose their patent. If you don't proactively protect your patent (I have three) then you should lose it, period.

I don't know the case here, whether these guys were sending letters to Microsoft as soon as IE began allowing ActiveX controls or not, but it sure hasn't read that way in the media. Sounds like they "invented" it and sat back and waited for the big players to invent it, too, and are now trying to collect a reward.
Zac
Oct 06, 2009

Rank: 5 / 5 (3)
Patent-squatting is one of the worst abuses of our intellectual property laws. I don't know enough on this case to make a call for sure as to whether Eolas was squatting, I think the fact they waited fifteen years while the entire internet "ripped them off" before doing anything to defend their IP is pretty damning.
magpies
Oct 06, 2009

Rank: not rated yet
Are you actualy supporting big companys?
SDrapak
Oct 06, 2009

Rank: not rated yet
And successful companies are evil because...? Apart from paying most people's paychecks?
donjoe0
Oct 07, 2009

Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
I say join your local Pirate Party so we can end this kind of patent-/copyright-fascist nonsense.
Arikin
Oct 07, 2009

Rank: not rated yet
Are companies suppose to check every possible patent out there for every single idea they came up with themselves??

Maybe they should look into the code and see if the technique is exactly the same. If done by two different people/companies it should be different.

In the IT field 15 years is ancient history!
superhuman
Oct 07, 2009

Rank: 5 / 5 (1)
Software patents are extremely counterproductive and should be invalidated ASAP.

I have yet to see a software patent which would warrant any protection due to innovation and brilliance involved, they are either obvious solutions to problems which would be solved in exactly the same way by a multitude of programmers or blatant trolling attempts.
Rank 4.2 /5 (6 votes)
Related Stories
Relevant PhysicsForums posts
  • Need help reading 3-D
    created8 hours ago
  • A way to send and receive wireless data
    created14 hours ago
  • Tabletop Cold Fusion Reactor
    created16 hours ago
  • Calling function with no input argument
    createdFeb 10, 2012
  • Force free body diagram problem on gym equipment
    createdFeb 10, 2012
  • Empirical data regarding shower heads and water
    createdFeb 10, 2012
  • More from Physics Forums - General Engineering

More news stories

Walney offshore wind farm is world's biggest (for now)

(PhysOrg.com) -- The Walney wind farm on the Irish Sea--characterized by high tides, waves and windy weather--officially opened this week. The farm is treated in the press as a very big deal as the Walney ...

Technology / Energy & Green Tech

created 17 hours ago | popularity 3.9 / 5 (10) | comments 32 | with audio podcast weblog

GPS court ruling leaves US phone tracking unclear

A US Supreme Court decision requiring a warrant to place a GPS device on the car of a criminal suspect leaves unresolved the bigger issue of police tracking using mobile phones, legal experts say.

Technology / Telecom

created 17 hours ago | popularity 4 / 5 (2) | comments 0

Europeans protest controversial Internet pact

Tens of thousands of people marched in protests in more than a dozen European cities Saturday against a controversial anti-online piracy pact that critics say could curtail Internet freedom.

Technology / Internet

created 13 hours ago | popularity 4.5 / 5 (8) | comments 0

Netflix settlement trims 14 pct off 4Q earnings

(AP) -- Netflix pressed the rewind button on its fourth-quarter earnings after settling allegations that the video subscription service violated a consumer-privacy law.

Technology / Business

created 17 hours ago | popularity not rated yet | comments 0

Navy to begin tests on electromagnetic railgun prototype launcher

The Office of Naval Research (ONR)'s Electromagnetic (EM) Railgun program will take an important step forward in the coming weeks when the first industry railgun prototype launcher is tested at a facility ...

Technology / Engineering

created Feb 06, 2012 | popularity 4.7 / 5 (15) | comments 92 | with audio podcast


Europe stakes billion-dollar bet on new rocket

A pencil-slim rocket is scheduled to lift into space from South America on Monday, carrying a billion-dollar bet that Europe can grab a juicy slice of the market to place satellites in low orbit.

Study finds that anti-diabetic medication can prevent the long-term effects of maternal obesity

In a study to be presented today at the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine's annual meeting, The Pregnancy Meeting, in Dallas, Texas, researchers will report findings that show that short therapy with the anti-diabetic medication ...

Explained: Sigma

It's a question that arises with virtually every major new finding in science or medicine: What makes a result reliable enough to be taken seriously? The answer has to do with statistical significance -- but ...

Political leaders play key role in how worried Americans are by climate change: study

More than extreme weather events and the work of scientists, it is national political leaders who influence how much Americans worry about the threat of climate change, new research finds.

New power source discovered

(PhysOrg.com) -- Researchers at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and RMIT University have made a breakthrough in energy storage and power generation.

NASA budget will axe Mars deal with Europe: scientists

US President Barack Obama's budget proposal to be submitted next week for 2013 will cut NASA's budget by 20 percent and eliminate a major partnership with Europe on Mars exploration, scientists said Thursday.