REUTERS:
A FEDERAL appeals court yesterday overturned a US$521 million patent infringement ruling against Microsoft Corp., the world's largest software maker, and ordered that the case be retried in a lower court.
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said that the original verdict, which found that parts of Microsoft's Internet Explorer Web browser had infringed on technology developed by privately held firm Eolas Technologies Inc. and the University of California, had ignored two of Microsoft's key arguments.
A year ago, Microsoft had also won a ruling by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, which invalidated a claim by the plaintiffs to the browser technology that allows other mini-applications to work with Microsoft's Internet Explorer.
NO DATE FOR RETRIAL
"We have maintained throughout this process that the Eolas patent is not valid and today's ruling is a clear affirmation of our position," Microsoft spokeswoman Stacy Drake said in a statement.
Martin Lueck, the lawyer heading the business litigation group at Robins, Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi LLP that represented Eolas, was not immediately available for comment.
Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft said it was looking forward to presenting its case again. No date has been set for a retrial.
In yesterday's ruling by the Appeals Court judges, they said "this court vacates the district court's decisions and remands for further proceedings on these issues," according to court documents.
