A federal judge has set a December date for a patent suit challenging "AutoPlay" technology included in recent versions of Microsoft Windows.
Judge Jeffrey White of U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California recently set Dec. 17 to hear Microsoft"s motion for partial summary judgment in the suit bought by TV Interactive Data (TVI), a small Monte Sereno, Calif., company specializing in interactive television technology. The case originally had been set to go to a jury trial last July.
TVI filed the suit in 2002, alleging that AutoPlay technology included in every version of Windows since Windows 95 infringes on its U.S. patents 5,795,156 and 6,249,863. AutoPlay examines the contents of a CD-ROM or other type of optical disc when inserted into a Windows PC and automatically executes the most appropriate task, such as launching the installation program for a new software application.