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Supreme Court rejects Microsoft patent case

Microsoft was rejected today by the Supreme Court concerning the issue that certain components of Internet Explorer- components that the University of California and Eolas Technology, Inc. claimed they had patents for- infringed on a patent for such. If the school and tech firm gets their way, they may be able to take Microsoft to the cleaners, though a $521 million lawsuit was reversed against the software giant earlier this year.

The U.S. Supreme Court Monday refused to consider an appeal by Microsoft Corp in a case involving claims by a privately held California software firm and the University of California that Microsoft infringed their patents with its Internet Explorer browser. Without comment, the high court rejected an appeal by Microsoft that it said involved more than 64 percent of the $521 million patent infringement ruling against the software giant. (MSNBC is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.) Microsoft sought review of an appeals court ruling that allows the privately held firm Eolas Technologies Inc. and the University of California to seek royalties based on the foreign manufacture and sale of an infringing software-related product. At issue is a ruling in March by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which reversed an earlier $521 million verdict against Microsoft. Even though Microsoft essentially won on appeal in reversing the verdict, the company still appealed to the Supreme Court on another aspect of the ruling that leaves it open to damages when the case goes back for further proceedings.

MSNBC Technology News

Posted by | Mon, Oct 31, 2005 - 09:20 AM