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IP News

By Howard J. Shire and Joseph Mercadante
February 28, 2012

Eolas Web Patents Invalid: Texas Jury

A Texas jury brought a swift end to a trial involving two web browser patents asserted by Eolas Technologies, Inc., finding the asserted claims of both patents invalid in Eolas Technologies, Inc. v. Adobe Systems Inc., et al., No. 09-cv-00446 (E.D. Tex. 2012). Judge Leonard Davis had split the dispute into four separate trials: the first focused on invalidity and inequitable conduct, and the remaining trials to focus on infringement and, if necessary, what damages to award Eolas. The jury agreed with the defendants' experts that a web browser called Viola disclosed the claimed inventions before September 1993.

Eolas' patent portfolio allegedly covered basic Internet functions, including a browser information retrieval system that uses audio and video. The Texas suit initially named 23 separate defendants, including tech companies such as Apple and Google, web hosting services such as The Go Daddy Group, financial services firms such as Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, and retailers such as J.C. Penney Company and Staples, among others.

Eolas, the exclusive licensee of the patents that are owned by the Regents of the University of California, previously won a $561 million verdict against Microsoft in 2003, although the Federal Circuit vacated the award and granted Microsoft a retrial, leading to the parties settling for a confidential amount.

Howard J. Shire is a partner and Joseph Mercadante is an associate in the New York office of Kenyon & Kenyon LLP.

Eolas Web Patents Invalid: Texas Jury

A Texas jury brought a swift end to a trial involving two web browser patents asserted by Eolas Technologies, Inc., finding the asserted claims of both patents invalid in Eolas Technologies, Inc. v. Adobe Systems Inc., et al., No. 09-cv-00446 (E.D. Tex. 2012). Judge Leonard Davis had split the dispute into four separate trials: the first focused on invalidity and inequitable conduct, and the remaining trials to focus on infringement and, if necessary, what damages to award Eolas. The jury agreed with the defendants' experts that a web browser called Viola disclosed the claimed inventions before September 1993.

Eolas' patent portfolio allegedly covered basic Internet functions, including a browser information retrieval system that uses audio and video. The Texas suit initially named 23 separate defendants, including tech companies such as Apple and Google, web hosting services such as The Go Daddy Group, financial services firms such as Citigroup and JPMorgan Chase, and retailers such as J.C. Penney Company and Staples, among others.

Eolas, the exclusive licensee of the patents that are owned by the Regents of the University of California, previously won a $561 million verdict against Microsoft in 2003, although the Federal Circuit vacated the award and granted Microsoft a retrial, leading to the parties settling for a confidential amount.

Howard J. Shire is a partner and Joseph Mercadante is an associate in the New York office of Kenyon & Kenyon LLP.

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