Jury Overturns Patents Claiming Web Interactivity

Good news out of Texas today.  A Texas jury has ruled that patents owned by Eolas that claim invention for interactivity on the Internet are invalid.  Eolas claimed that Michael Doyle invented and patented the interactive web when he created a program at the University of California that allowed doctors to view embryos over the World Wide Web.  The jury heard from Sir Tim Berners-Lee, the acknowledged father of the Internet, and Pei-Yuan Wei, creator of a very early browser called Viola.  The stakes were high, as the Internet as we know it is by its very nature interactive.  Defendants included Google, Yahoo, and a number of other deep-pocket corporate entities.

An article in Wired on the verdict notes that even if Eolas appeals it cannot go after any other targets until the verdict is overturned.  Eolas is also known for its suit against Microsoft for certain features the company included in Internet Explorer.  That case was settled after the initial verdict in favor of Eolas was overturned on appeal.  The University of California was part of that suit as the technology in question was developed at the time Doyle was employed there.  All I can say is good riddance to this suit.  Earlier coverage by Wired is here.  The winners are the defendants, anyone who uses the web, and most of all, the lawyers who got paid the big bucks to handle the litigation.  [MG]