In response to newly revealed details of Microsoft"s potential plans to redesign its browser, Eolas founder Mike Doyle urged the software giant to leave Internet Explorer alone and pay his company a license fee instead.
Doyle, whose company"s patent suit led to a federal district court"s $521 million judgment against Microsoft, made his remarks to counter growing perception in the software industry that he is an ideologically driven crusader unwilling to settle with Microsoft at any cost. "Microsoft has been representing to the world that they have no choice but to remove technology from the browser and disrupt the Internet," Doyle said in an interview Friday. "And I want to make it very clear that that is not the case. Microsoft has had in its power the ability to settle this case, and to the extent that they"re refusing to settle, it"s their decision." Since Eolas" victory at trial last month, the Web software industry has been consumed with speculation and planning on how to live with the patent, should it survive Microsoft"s promised appeal.