Company that won $585M from Microsoft sues Apple, Google

The company that won a patent case against Microsoft in 2003 is now using the same patent to go after 23 other companies, including Apple and Google. The USPTO has upheld the patent several times now, so the case may not be as cut and dry as some other patent complaints.

Eolas, the company that won a patent case against Microsoft in 2003, has filed another patent infringement lawsuit, apparently targeting as many high-tech companies it could find. Citing infringement on the very same patent as the one that resulted in a $585 judgment against Microsoft, Eolas is now suing 23 companies, including Apple, Google, Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Playboy, Yahoo, and YouTube for implementing browser plug-ins in one form or another, plus another patent that addresses the use of asynchronous JavaScript and XML (AJAX).

The infamous '906 patent granted to Eolas and the University of California was one of the first patents to get the young online tech scene going in 1998. The patent addresses third-party browser plug-ins to run various forms of media as an "embedded program object"—essentially a program that runs within another program. Eolas promptly sued Microsoft for its implementation of ActiveX in Internet Explorer, which set in motion a years-long legal battle between the two companies.