The appeal, filed on Thursday, relates to limitations placed on
the extent of prior art evidence that the District Court allowed
Microsoft to put forward to support its claim that the technology
behind the Eolas patent was already in the public domain and that
the patent was therefore invalid.
Microsoft has asked the court to reverse the infringement
ruling, or to declare a mistrial, according to a CNET News.com
report. The software giant has also petitioned the court to include
only the US sales of Windows in the calculations relating to the
fine imposed on the company.
Background
The dispute dates back to 1999, when Microsoft was sued by the
University of California and Eolas Technologies over allegations
that Microsoft's Internet Explorer program infringed a patent for a
method that allows web browsers to access interactive application
programs.
In August last year a jury agreed with the claim and awarded
damages of $520.6 million plus interest to Eolas. This verdict was
upheld in January and a Chicago District Court imposed an
injunction on the software firm, banning it from distributing the
infringing software.
The ban was stayed pending an appeal – now filed by
Microsoft.
In separate proceedings, the US Patent and Trademark Office
agreed in November to re-examine the Eolas patent and in March
issued a preliminary ruling that the patent was indeed invalid.
This followed written evidence of prior art being brought to its
attention that raised what the Patent Office described as "a
substantial new question of patentability" - the legal basis for
any form of re-examination.
Eolas filed a response to that finding only a few weeks ago but
a definitive decision from the USPTO could take years, according to
commentators.
