Sidebar Sidebar
Become a MacRumors Supporter for $50/year with no ads, ability to filter front page stories, and private forums.

Microsoft Co-Founder's Firm Sues Apple and Others in Patent Dispute

MacRumors

MacRumors

macrumors bot
Original poster
Apr 12, 2001
68,733
39,680



144307-paul_allen.jpg


The Wall Street Journal reports that Interval Licensing, a patent licensing firm run by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen and designed to protect the intellectual property of Allen's former technology incubator company Interval Research Corporation, has filed suit against Apple and ten other companies over several patents related to e-commerce and Web search technologies.
Mr. Allen, 57, Friday through his firm Interval Licensing LLC filed suit in federal court in Seattle asserting the companies are using technology from his laboratory. Named in the suit, along with Apple and Google, are AOL Inc., eBay Inc., Facebook Inc., Netflix Inc., Office Depot Inc., OfficeMax Inc., Staples Inc., Yahoo Inc. and Google's YouTube subsidiary.

The suit doesn't name Microsoft, Amazon.com Inc. or other technology firms in Seattle where Mr. Allen is based. The suit doesn't estimate a damage amount.
Click to expand...
According to a press release issued by Interval Licensing, four patents are at stake in the lawsuit:
- United States Patent No. 6,263,507 issued for an invention entitled "Browser for Use in Navigating a Body of Information, With Particular Application to Browsing Information Represented By Audiovisual Data."
- United States Patent No. 6,034,652 issued for an invention entitled "Attention Manager for Occupying the Peripheral Attention of a Person in the Vicinity of a Display Device."
- United States Patent No. 6,788,314 issued for an invention entitled "Attention Manager for Occupying the Peripheral Attention of a Person in the Vicinity of a Display Device."
- United States Patent No. 6,757,682 issued for an invention entitled "Alerting Users to Items of Current Interest."
Click to expand...
The press release claims that the technologies are "fundamental" to the operation of leading e-commerce and search companies and the firm is merely looking to protect its own investments in innovation. According to The Wall Street Journal, the lawsuit marks a major shift for Allen in his increasingly aggressive efforts to protect the intellectual property developed at Interval Research during the 1990s.

Article Link: Microsoft Co-Founder's Firm Sues Apple and Others in Patent Dispute
 
Article Link
https://www.macrumors.com/2010/08/27/microsoft-co-founders-firm-sues-apple-and-others-in-patent-dispute/
Wirelessly posted (Mozilla/5.0 (Linux; U; Android 2.1-update1; en-gb; Dell Streak Build/ERE27) AppleWebKit/530.17 (KHTML, like Gecko) Version/4.0 Mobile Safari/530.17)

Wow.... I'm speechless... :(
 
Now, be nice. He might just need an extra billion to tip the porter.

... or he needs a few hundred million to run attack ads against any members of Congress who didn't call him "Sir."
 
So very dull. Can we have a "who's suing who" section in which you can put "news" like this?
 
Wirelessly posted (Opera/9.80 (S60; SymbOS; Opera Mobi/499; U; en-US) Presto/2.4.18 Version/10.00)

Another day another patent lawsuit

What's new?
 
I guess Mr. Allen is running out of money. Now he has to try and take from everyone else. You can bet that if he wins the fight against and of the mentioned companies, he will go after any site e-commerce site that has a search feature. :(
 
As I read the patent titles, I can't help but roll my eyes. :rolleyes:

I really hope the actual contents of the patents has significantly more substance because those are the most generic claims to "invention" I've ever heard.

The patent system definitely needs to be overhauled.
 
Yeah, patents have become so stupid, they issue them for anything. I should try to patent "Breathing" or "Walking".
 
"Attention Manager for Occupying the Peripheral Attention of a Person in the Vicinity of a Display Device." - I don't understand. What was the goal for this patent? To be annoying with a ring tone and a flash light.
 
Wtf?

Paul Allen protecting his interests? Shouldn't his interest be in making the Seattle Seahawks the best team in the NFL. He has a ton of money tied up in that damn stadium! Oh and don't get me started on the EMP, what a joke. Man, as soon as Apple starts doing something good and producing a product that is competitive in the market place everyone comes after them. I know some are legit but who can comb through millions of vague patents to see if their new idea/invention has already been done. I love to read the descriptions of some of these ideas.

"Circular device invention to be used in the forward or reverse motion of heavy objects"
"Round object designed to ease the movement of objects"
"Cylindrical device to be implemented in a vehicle to enable motion"

Holy Crap, I just came up with the wheel!

LanPhantom
 
I agree that this lawsuit sounds lame to my uneducated legal mind, but lay off the personal attacks, 'cause his sci-fi/rock and roll museum in Seattle is REALLY REALLY cool (and getting a significant BSG exhibit very soon)
:apple:
 
Sooner or later either more companies will move to EU, where no such dumb software patent system exists or US will finally change their pattent office.
 
I'd like a rumor on how many lawsuits Apple has within a year... it must be one-a-day EASY.
 
Who would have thought, Paul Allen is a patent troll. Since Windows Phone 7 will close shops in 2011, the only thing they can do is to get money from other ways.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Register on MacRumors! This sidebar will go away, and you'll see fewer ads.
Top Bottom
Back