A Chicago jury has ordered software giant Microsoft
to pay $521 million
to the University of California and Eolas Technology for using patented
technology in its
flagship Internet Explorer browser.
According to Bloomberg data, the award is the largest U.S.
jury verdict this
year.
Microsoft said it would appeal the ruling in the U.S. Circuit Court of
Appeals, noting that
the court has already rejected claims of willful infringement.
"We believe the evidence will ultimately show that there was no
infringement of any kind, and
that the accused feature in our browser technology was developed by our own
engineers based on
pre-existing Microsoft technology," the company said in a statement.
In the lawsuit, filed in February 1999, Chicago-based Eolas Technologies
claimed as much as
$1.2 billion for alleged patent infringement involving plug-in and applet
technology. The
company accused
Microsoft
of using its patented technology in its Windows 98, Windows 95 and Internet
Explorer
programs.
Eolas' patent (US Patent 5,838,906) was granted on November 17, 1998 and
covered technologies
for the creation of a browser system that allowed for the embedding of
small interactive
programs, such as plug-ins, applets, scriptlets or ActiveX Controls, into
online documents.
After the jury's ruling, Microsoft said it would work hard to ensure
there is "very little if
any impact on our customers."
"As an intellectual property company, Microsoft invests heavily in
research and development,
and is committed to respecting the intellectual property rights of others,"
Microsoft added.
In a separate statement, the University of California welcomed the cash
verdict, calling it a
"significant landmark in defining and protecting Internet technology."
"As a public institution that reinvests its licensing revenue in its
larger research mission,
we are gratified by the jury's recognition that UC and Eolas must be fairly
compensated for use
of its patented technology," the university added.
Microsoft's Internet Explorer dominates the Web browser market, well
ahead of competing
products from Netscapek, Mozilla/Phoenix and Opera.
