Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen has re-filed his patent suit against Apple, Google and several other major tech companies, adding specific examples of the alleged infringement, reports “AppleInsider” (http://www.appleinsider.com).
In August it was announced that Interval Licensing, a tech licensing company controlled by Allen was suing 11 companies, including Apple, for violating patents on “fundamental web technologies” developed by Interval Research, the now-defunct Silicon Valley lab that Allen created with Xerox PARC veteran David Liddle in the 1990s.
In addition to Apple, Facebook, Office Depot, Yahoo, YouTube, Netflix and eBay were targeted. Not surprisingly, Microsoft wasn’t on the list.
A total of four Interval Research patents were cited in the complaint, which seeks unspecified monetary damages for alleged patent infringement. Allen’s firm called the patents at issue in the suit “fundamental to the ways that leading e-commerce and search companies operate today.”
However, earlier this month the lawsuit hit a snag as a federal judge in Seattle dismissed the complaint for not describing its allegations specifically enough. U.S. District Judge Marsha Pechman on Friday set a Dec. 28 deadline for the plaintiff, Interval Licensing, to file an amended complaint.
They have. The updated filing accuses Apple of infringing on Interval’s patents with its iTunes Store album purchasing view.
— Dennis Sellers
