Michael Doyle of Eolas Technologies loses interactive web lawsuit
A Texas jury dismissed a $600 million infringement lawsuit brought by “patent troll” Michael Doyle of Eolas Technologies which would have impacted companies like Google, YouTube and Amazon. AFP PHOTO/ PATRICK LIN
Michael Doyle, of Eolas Technologies, was in for disappointment today when a Texas jury concluded that his company’s claims to ownership of interactive web technology were invalid, reported WIRED magazine.
The federal jury in Tyler, Texas ruled in favor of a long list of companies including Google, Amazon, Adobe Systems, Yahoo, JCPenney and YouTube, when it decided that the two patents owned by Eolas were invalid, said Bloomberg.
Other companies that settled the 2009 lawsuit before it went to trial included Apple, Citigroup, EBay and Playboy.
The $600 million patent infringement lawsuit claimed that Doyle developed the interactive web browsing software in question in 1993, with two colleagues at the University of California, said The Toronto Star.
The technology that the “patent troll” claimed as relating to Eolas technology included the ability to use “music clips, search features, maps, advertisements and embedded applications,” according to Bloomberg.
Tim Berners-Lee, an MIT professor who is considered one of the fathers of the web, testified on Tuesday that another browser named Viola was “an important part of the development of the web,” and offered interactive web elements that existed before the patent claim, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The verdict today cancelled the next two phases of the trial which were to look at infringement and damages, said Bloomberg.
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