Tech Shout!

On Thursday, Microsoft stated that it has resolved an eight-year-old patent spat with Eolas Technologies that ended up in a $521 M jury verdict against it.

Though the dispute has been settled, the terms of the agreement have yet not been revealed.

The patent is owned by the University of California and Michael Doyle’s Eolas Technologies has the license for it.

“We are pleased to be able to reach an amicable resolution in this long-running dispute,” said Jack Evans, a Microsoft spokesman.

It was a feature in Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser that allows embedded links, which raised the issue in 1998.

Four years back, i.e., in 2003, a Chicago jury maintained that Microsoft had violated the patent and awarded cash recompense based on sales of Microsoft’s Windows operating system. However, a part of this judgment was changed by a federal court, thereby giving Microsoft yet another chance to put forward its stance and retort that the patent is invalid since others had made developed it.

From last month onwards, a retrial in the case was slated to take place, in Chicago. However it was postponed for a month, as at that particular time, Microsoft was actually busy discussing a cordial solution for the issue, reported The Seattle Post-Intelligencer website, prior to the official announcement.

The news was revealed by Eolas Technologies’ chief operating officer, Mark Swords, who sent a letter that mentioned details about the settlement.

However a lawyer for Eolas, Martin Lueck, said he could neither nod nor decline the news of the settlement. “There are still things that need to be done,” he said.