A software company based here and the University of California were awarded over $520 million in damages August 11, when a federal jury ruled August 11 that Microsoft Internet Explorer infringed on an interactive program access patent, the Associated Press reported late the same day.
Eolas Technologies was born in 1994 to market a technology that lets you access interactive programs embedded in Web pages, the AP said, a technology invented by Eolas founder Michael Doyle and two others while at the University of California at San Francisco.
"We are very satisfied," Eolas attorney Martin R. Lueck told the AP. "It shows the jury system works." Eolas is expected to receive the bulk of the damage award, assuming Microsoft's intended appeals of the verdict fail.
Microsoft could have faced up to $1.2 billion in damages. Lueck told the AP the verdict showed patents deserve respect no matter the "size and the market power" of the infringer.
Eolas and UCSF argued Microsoft bundled their technology intoWindows while making it part of Internet Explorer, while Microsoft argued the patent was invalid and the company never infringed on it, the AP said.
The two plaintiffs sought $3.50 damages for each unit for the 354 million copies of Windows sold from November 1998, when the patent was awarded, through September 2001, but the jury calculated $1.47 per unit was a reasonable royalty, the AP continued.
