patent

Microsoft has been ordered to pay over $290 million for willfully infringing on a patent by Canadian firm I4i. The Redmond-based firm has also been told by a Texas judge to stop selling its Word program. The patent in question relates to the use of ... the XML programming language that makes files readable across different programs and allows the formatting of text. XML is an integral part of Microsoft's Word. (Source: bbc.co.uk ) XML Patent Filed by I4i in 1998 The $290 million fine and sales ban of Word are the result of Microsoft's use of Extensible Mark-up Language (XML) documents. Other word ... (view more)

A Texas company is suing at least 20 major consumer goods firms for allegedly violating a touchpad technology patent. The case has been filed in Texas' Eastern District Court, which has become notorious for patent lawsuits. Tsera LLC was granted a ... patent in 2003 (following a 1999 application) for a system by which a "touchpad is mounted on the housing of the device, and a user enters commands by tracing patterns with his finger on a surface of the touchpad. No immediate visual feedback is provided as a command pattern is traced, and the user does not need to view the device to enter ... (view more)

Microsoft has been slapped by a heavy hand for including a Canadian company's technology in Microsoft Word. A Texas federal court recently decided that the Redmond-based firm infringed on Toronto-based i4i's XML-based patent. Canada's i4i raised its ... concerns in 2007, suing Microsoft for altering the XML (eXtensive Markup Language) in Microsoft Word 2003 and 2007. According to i4i, the customization of this process violated its patent. Microsoft denied the charges, insisting that its own patent is valid and has nothing to do with i4i technology. (Source: crn.com ) Microsoft Appeals Ruling ... (view more)

Microsoft's newest lawsuit is the first on record to involve patent infringement based on usage of the Linux kernel -- proving that open source software is becoming the biggest fox in Microsoft's henhouse. Microsoft filed District Court charges and ... International Trade Commission charges Tuesday against in-car GPS navigation company TomTom Inc., claiming that TomTom is violating eight Microsoft patents. While Linux is not specifically mentioned as the focus of the charges, three out of eight alleged patent violations relate to TomTom's usage of the Linux kernel. (Source: zdnet.com ) The case ... (view more)

Do you podcast? Podcasting is "is a collection of digital media files which is distributed over the Internet, often using syndication feeds, for playback on portable media players and personal computers." (Source wikipedia.org ) Last week, Apple ... officially filed for a patent on a new variant of podcasting medium. The company's proposal for a patent on the 'podmap' concept was filed in January 2007 but had remained undisclosed until just recently. (Source: appleinsider.com ) According to the patent filing, the concept involves four central components, which will become the crux of this audio- ... (view more)

Although we've all been entranced with the beauty and sheer media power of the Apple iPhone, it's hard to imagine all that innovation could have come from just one tech company. Well, it might just be too good to be true, according to a recent suit ... alleging that the phone's maker lifted its whimsical keyboard design. SP Technologies argues that it has held the patent rights to the iPhone's keyboard since the year 2000. The popular touch-screen feature, which has been responsible for much of the materialistic fanfare behind the device, was apparently developed seven years ago. That's clear in ... (view more)

No one can deny that when it comes to design, Apple is the reigning champion. But although the company has mastered almost everything from MP3 players to GUI (graphical user interface) screens, it never produced a truly amazing mouse. But this may ... soon change -- Apple has filed a patent application for an innovative new touch-sensitive mouse. (Source: theinquirer.net ) In early December of 2006, iPhone interface designer Brian Huppi filed the patent application for the next-generation Apple mouse. The mouse is capable of switching between operational modes depending on how the device is held ... (view more)

In the latest installment of tech-related lawsuits, online media company Intertainer has filed a lawsuit against three heavyweights: Apple, Google and Napster. Although Intertainer closed its doors in 2002, it was granted a patent in 2005. The broad ... patent gave Intertainer the rights for "managing, distributing, and/or retailing digital media assets." (Source: arstechnica.com ) The meaning and breadth of the patent description is hazy: not only to the typical reader, but also to patent lawyers. Eric Goldman, head of the High-Tech Law Institute, said "I have the same problem with this patent ... (view more)

Microsoft sure is having some difficulty with this whole patent business. While the company struggles to calm a stormy sea caused by CEO Steve Ballmer's statement that recent partner Novell is infringing on Microsoft's intellectual property , it ... appears the software giant must now face the loss of patent rights in South Korea, a major Asian market. The problem stems from court cases dating back months, which recently reached a very unfavorable decision for the Redmond-based company. The patent infringement -- in this case -- surrounds a local university professor's claims that he first ... (view more)

Besides increased efficiency, widespread access to information, and improved communication, the advent of the Internet brought something else: confusion over legal rights. Recently, IBM joined the slew of snubbed patent owners and filed two lawsuits ... against Amazon.com, citing patent infringement. (Source: slashdot.org ) The lawsuits, which were filed in U.S District Court in Texas, allege that Amazon is using five IBM patents at the core of their operations. Ari Fishkind, Public Affairs Manager at IBM, stated that the patents "include technology that help present applications, store data, ... (view more)