UC fires back at Microsoft in browser battle

Chaos · Jul 20, 2004, 03:59 AM

The University of California hit back at Microsoft in its pitched patent battle over fundamental Web browsing technology.

UC and its one-man software spinoff Eolas on July 16 filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the federal circuit, in Washington, D.C., to counter Microsoft's request for an appeal in a patent infringement case that has rattled the Web, from site authors to browser vendors to standards groups.

Last year, Microsoft got socked with a $521 million judgment after a jury found it guilty of infringing on Eolas's system for running plug-ins, applications like Macromedia's Flash animation software and Adobe's Acrobat document reader that run inside the Web browser.

Since then, Microsoft has engineered a version of its browser that it says would skirt the patent's claims, but that browser would break millions of Web pages written the old way. Microsoft has put that browser on ice pending resolution of the infringement battle.

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Source: c|net

Zelig · Jul 20, 2004, 11:04 AM

Good, their browser is junk as it stands; it should be rewritten anyway.

Jul 20, 2004, 03:59 AM	#1
Chaos Number Nine Join Date: May 2002 Location: Nova Scotia Posts: 5,268 Rep Power: 167 System Specs	UC fires back at Microsoft in browser battle The University of California hit back at Microsoft in its pitched patent battle over fundamental Web browsing technology. UC and its one-man software spinoff Eolas on July 16 filed a brief with the U.S. Court of Appeals for the federal circuit, in Washington, D.C., to counter Microsoft's request for an appeal in a patent infringement case that has rattled the Web, from site authors to browser vendors to standards groups. Last year, Microsoft got socked with a $521 million judgment after a jury found it guilty of infringing on Eolas's system for running plug-ins, applications like Macromedia's Flash animation software and Adobe's Acrobat document reader that run inside the Web browser. Since then, Microsoft has engineered a version of its browser that it says would skirt the patent's claims, but that browser would break millions of Web pages written the old way. Microsoft has put that browser on ice pending resolution of the infringement battle. ________________________ Source: c\|net

Jul 20, 2004, 11:04 AM	#2
Zelig HardwareHeaven Extreme Member Join Date: Jun 2003 Location: Canada Posts: 3,187 Rep Power: 71 System Specs	Good, their browser is junk as it stands; it should be rewritten anyway.