RE: Appeal will follow

Plus I'm getting the impression that MS is moving towards minimizing their
risk factor by not incurring any further "potential" royalties or penalties
before the end of the appeal process.

http://www.theregister.co.uk/content/4/32561.html

(See 3rd and last paragraphs)

Unfortunately, we seem to be short on technical details and time-frames. I
hope this information comes along soon.....

Scott Cadillac

> -----Original Message-----
> From: public-web-plugins-request@w3.org 
> [mailto:public-web-plugins-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of 
> Richard M. Smith
> Sent: Friday, August 29, 2003 3:09 PM
> To: 'Public-Web-Plugins@W3. Org'
> Subject: RE: Appeal will follow
> 
> 
> 
> Because Microsoft has $40 billion in its bank account, the 50/50 odds
> are very managable.  However, for a small-to-medium size company that
> depends on ActiveX technology to be present in Internet 
> Explorer, these
> kinds of odds are pretty scary.
> 
> For this judgement to be reverse, someone is going to need to 
> find prior
> art.  When looking for prior art, it's important to read and 
> understand
> the claims in the Eolas patent.  Here's the patent description:
> 
http://164.195.100.11/netacgi/nph-Parser?Sect1=PTO1&Sect2=HITOFF&d=PALL&
p=1&u=/netahtml/srchnum.htm&r=1&f=G&l=50&s1='5838906'.WKU.&OS=PN/5838906
&RS=PN/5838906

The patent was filed on October 17, 1994, so prior art before October
17, 1993 will invalidate the patent.  Prior art between October 17, 1993
and October 17, 1994 may invalidate the patent.

Richard

-----Original Message-----
From: public-web-plugins-request@w3.org
[mailto:public-web-plugins-request@w3.org] On Behalf Of Stolowitz, Micah
Sent: Friday, August 29, 2003 4:35 PM
To: Public-Web-Plugins@W3. Org
Subject: RE: Appeal will follow



Doubtless an appeal will follow in the Eolas case (to the Court of
Appeals for the Federal Circuit, as in all patent cases).  Patent
infringement judgments are reversed (overturned) in fully 50% of the
cases appealed (or more, depending on who you ask, and how you interpret
the statistics). That will take a year or more.

-Micah

Received on Friday, 29 August 2003 17:29:23 UTC