Back in August Microsoft was found guilty of infringing on Eolas patent. Earlier this week Microsoft finally filed a request to the U.S. Court of Appeals. That decision in August shook the Web. If Eolas went after Microsoft who would stop Eolas from going after other's?
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.
The August decision originally granted the University of California and Eolas $1.47 for each of the 354 million copies of the Windows operating system that included the Internet Explorer browser between Nov. 17, 1998, when the patent was issued, and Sept. 30, 2001. In January, the court added $45.3 million in prejudgment interest, increasing the already staggering $521 million award to more than $565 million. Microsoft's Eolas woes have shaken the Web, drawing former adversaries to the software giant's defense. Web developers and standards advocates fear that if the district court judgment is upheld, Microsoft will rewrite its Web browser in a way that will render millions of Web pages obsolete.
News source: C|Net News.com
