In September, the US Patents and Trademark Office (USPTO)
announced that it had reexamined the patent and determined that it
was valid.
The patent is owned by the University of California and licensed
by tiny tech firm Eolas Technologies, both of which sued Microsoft
for infringement in 1999. In 2003, a jury agreed with the claim and
awarded damages of $520.6 million plus interest.
Microsoft appealed and, in March this year, it won a retrial.
The case has been sent back to the District Court, where Microsoft
effectively has to show that the Eolas patent is invalid because
the technology behind the patent was already in the public
domain.
Its case will be made more difficult by the USPTO September
ruling.
Microsoft announced in September 2003 that it was planning
changes to its browser software in case it lost the case, but then
appeared to put matters on hold.
According to reports, the company has now confirmed that, from
January, it will be releasing patches containing new code that
works around the Eolas-related patent. New versions of Windows 2000
and Windows XP containing the amendments will also be shipped from
early next year.
The changes are said to be minor, and may only require users to
click twice in order to acess embedded applications, according to
reports.
