What is the awful patent of Eolas which kept shaking the net for 14 years?

In a lawsuitMicrosoftA small company that surprised the world by winning a ruling that won the $ 521 million (at the rate of the time about 62.5 billion yen) compensationEolas Technologies (Eolas). The patent held by Eolas, which got the case against this Microsoft, was finally determined to be invalid on July 23, 2013, and peace came. As a result of this, virtually all of the various lawsuits that the company has caused have come to an end, what kind of patent was it?

Eolas - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eolas

The Web's longest nightmare ends: Eolas' patents are dead on appeal
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2013/07/the-webs-longest-nightmare-ends-eolas-patents-are-dead-on-appeal/

The patent owned by Eolas (US Pat. No. 5,838,906) concerned a technology for moving interactive embedded applications (plug-ins) with a web browser. For example, "HTML code for embedding videos of YouTube" makes use of this patented technology.


By using this patent as a weapon, Eolas will appeal to companies like Microsoft, Google, Apple, Yahoo, Adobe, Sun Microsystems, etc. and will charge for a large amount of compensation. For this reason, Eolas is a so-called "Patent · TrollIt was regarded as a representative of ".

ByJoriel "Joz" Jimenez

Everything begins with the research that Michael Doyle later in 1993 will be developing Eolas. Doyle was then the administrator of the computer laboratory at the University of California, San Francisco. Doyle, who was studying computers, invents a program that a doctor online diagnoses a fetus. Later this programIt was the first invention to use "interactive" on the Internet, Doyle will assert in a series of trials. The present invention is patented in October 1994 titled "Method for Automatically Calling Outside Application Providing Display of Embedded Objects in HTML", and it was filed with the University of CaliforniaShared patentsAs United States Patent 5,838,906 on November 17, 1998, it came into effect.

In 1999, Eile, headed by Doyle, sued as Microsoft infringes Eolas' patent. Specifically, ActiveX technology that launches and executes plug-in applications implemented in Internet Explorer (IE), such as Java applets, Acrobat documents of Adobe, and Flash movies of Macromedia (then) infringes patents on websites It was.


At that time Microsoft was an absolute champion who reigned in the computer related industry, and IE occupied the world standard position of the web browser. Doyle said "This case is an emerging browser companyNetscape CommunicationsIt corrects numerous wrongs Microsoft has done to shatter the game. " It was a hot topic that a small company in California where only Doyle was an employee sold a quarrel to the biggest global company.


But things did not go as Doyle expected. All web-related companies at that time are building sites assuming IE's plug-in, and if Eolas wins, tag rewriting work is required on websites all over the world. And there are technologies that infringe Eolas' s patents (such as Flash, Java applet, QuickTime, RealAudio, RealVideo etc), and if Microsoft loses, It was easily anticipated that it would be. Naturally, sites that use these technologies will also be affected. In this way, the influence of Eolas's US patent 5,838,906 on the web industry at that time is tremendous and inevitably,Web affiliates around the world have Microsoft's shoulderIn the trend. A situation arises that could not be thought at the time that the giant Microsoft who had been treated like computerized affiliates around the world and treated like the authorization of evil was cheered from all over the world.

ByNathan Rupert

Eolas, who decided to turn the world around the enemy, in August 2003, he surprised the world by winning Microsoft's victory and granting a 522 million dollar damages. Microsoft immediately appeals and contests the content of the judgment. Web companies around the world do not know whether Eolas has said "this patent / troll!", But I will support Microsoft. Although Micorsoft subsequently received a motion to invalidate US Pat. No. 5,838,906, Eolas barely cleared the patent invalidation trial. I will protect Toranoko's patent. Eventually, on August 27, 2007, Micorsoft celebrates the end of this patent case by receiving a patent license from Eolas. Although the amount of the settlement paid by Micorsoft has not been announced, it is said to be more than $ 100 million (at the rate of 12.2 billion yen at that time) or more than 30.4 million dollars (about 3.6 billion yen at that rate).

ByAbayomi Azikiwe

Eolas who won the victory over Microsoft's fight will start for the next target. In October 2009, Eolas appeals to 22 companies that are large companies. Speaking of accused big companies, Google has purchased Apple, Amazon, Adobe, eBay, Yahoo!, and YouTube, and it is horribly luxurious. It is Eolas who knows exactly what is scary. According to the judgment record of January 2012, the initial Eolas billing amount was strongly 600 million dollars (46.2 billion yen at the time of the time), but when the trial started, it was 1 billion dollars (at that time rate of 77 billion yen ) Or more. Eolas's request does not know where to stay. On the other hand, the University of California, which shares the rights of US Pat. No. 5,838,906, also participates in the lawsuit as a co-plaintiff, but it is said that the behavior on trial was considered to be extremely low and contrasts with Doyle of Ikeike.

ByRenaissance_nerd_1

In a series of patent litigation,US Pat. No. 5,838,906 is novel and ineffectiveIt was claimed by the defendant company. This is because if the prior invention exists, the novelty requirement is not satisfied and the patent is invalidated. Doyle led by Eolas asserts its novelty that it is the first invention invented at the University of California "Doctor online diagnosis of fetus" is the first invention invented the web "interactive". However, the testimony of two scientists from the University of California, ironically also a co-plaintiff, will crush Doyle's assertion.

Pay Yang Wei, a student at the University of California at Berkeley, was developing an advanced browser "Viola" in the early 1990's. Scott Silver, who was also a student, developed a program "VPlot" that rotates the image of the plane in Viola. The Viola browser was a program that used the web for "interactive". In February 2012, Silver testified that "I introduced VPlot and Viola to Sun Microsystems in May 1993". This is because DoyleSeveral months ago claiming to have invented the inventionIt was about that. This testimony was the deciding factor, on July 23, 2012,U.S. Pat. No. 5,838,906 (and related patent US 7,599,985) is invalidA jury verdict with. And one year later on July 23, 2013, Doyle 's assertion that his own patent right was effective was rejected, the patent invalidation declined, and it finally decided that Doyle's patent was invalid. As a result, all patent trials caused by Eolas are effectively terminated in the form of Eolas loses.

ByJulie Blaustein

Looking back over the patent war caused by Eolas in this way, you can learn about the rise and fall of the Internet industry and its speed. At that time, Microsoft, who had reigned as the only absolute champion, showed troubles with the future and now has the feeling of giving up the seat of the champion to Google and Apple. IE, where patent infringement was first contested, is now functionally behind the scenes of Google Chrome and Firefox. Eolas continued the patent war for 14 years, but it is a tremendously long battle for the Internet related industry, and even now as the fight for patents continues in smart phones and various fields, second and third Eolas will emerge and again the day of giving crisis to everything related to the Internet seems not to be a faraway day.