Microsoft Nailed by Software Patent

An anonymous reader writes "It was just announced that Microsoft lost the case where it was accused of violating Eolas' patent on embedded applications in the Internet Explorer browser. They have been fined $521 million in damages."

Comments

So Eolas invented COM and ActiveX

[pr0ntab]

I don't think so. Have you seen the invocation of some embedded applets in IE? Nothing like Netscape.

I have my feelings against Microsoft, but this smells like being in the right place at the right time, and PTO's own trademarked brand of ignorance.

Re:Peanuts

[letxa2000]

That's half a billion dollars. I think Microsoft has, what, 40 billion? You can argue they still have 39.5, but losing about 1.3% of their reserves on a podunk little company with a silly 'ol lawsuit is still an important message.

Like someone else said, that's more than the Justice Department was able to do in 5 years.

Re:It's amazing..

[Malcontent]

What is interesting to me is that MS already settled with AOL for over 700 million for what they did to netscape. If this verdict stands (and god knows MS can drag it out forever and has friends in very high places) it will have cost MS over a billion dollars to gain dominance over the web.

I wonder if they feel like it was worth it. Billion is pocket change to MS but still it would have been cheaper to just license the patent.

Re:Before you start bitching about slashdot users.

[stickb0y]

I do not support this ruling, because I do not support patents in any way shape or form.

Patents or just software patents?

Software patents are bad because their lifetime is an eternity in the software world, giving them undue monopolistic power. This is exacerbated by the fact that most of the patent examiners don't seem to have the direct knowledge or the familiarity with computing history to differentiate between trivial ideas and really unique, innovative stuff.

(And then there's also the problem of idiots flooding the patent office with ridiculous patents.)

However, the patent system as originally envisioned by the U.S. forefathers was a pretty good idea. It gives inventors an incentive to fully disclose the workings of their inventions to the public in exchange for a limited-time monopoly.

MBA on Microsoft

[mbakaitis]

Having read Slashdot for awhile, and having an MBA in my back pocket, I thought it might be good to point out a few things from a strictly-business point-of-view. (This obviously doesn't invalidate anybody's personal opinion...but it may be considered as an extra data point.)

1. $500+ million is a huge amount of money. People who talk about how this is some "percentage" of Microsoft's quarterly revenues, income, or "war chest" just don't get it. In the end, successful corporations are such because:
   • Making $1 is good.
   • Making more is better.
   • Losing $1 or more is bad.
   Period.
2. Software companies like patents because for two reasons. First, they make it harder for new entrants to threaten them. Second, it protects a position based upon functionality (in many cases) rather than pure technical merit. In each case, it protects a company against its (up-to-now) worst enemies -- other companies.
3. Microsoft would amaze me if they decided to try to weaken patents. Doing so would weaken the vast portfolio of patents they have created or purchased. It would also weaken their ability to use these things, like a club (see #2), against competitors in the future.

I'm not trying to shift discussion away from whether Microsoft's actions were ethical, whether patents are good, or any really relevant and interesting discussions.

However, everything else we discuss here is, at best, philosophy to a creature like Microsoft. When you are talking about $billions in revenue, and if you are trying to "get into Microsoft's head", you need to shift perspective a bit. I, personally, think patents have been abused in many ways in the last decade. However, a company like Microsoft only evaluates things like this on one basis - money. Think like that, and you'll practically be in Bill's head.