Microsoft was ordered to pay $521-million on Monday after losing a patent-infringement suit that accused the world’s largest software maker of stealing technology used in its Internet Explorer web browser, news reports said.
A federal jury in Chicago awarded the money after a month-long trial to the University of California and the Chicago company Eolas Technologies Inc., which said they had invented and patented a way to access interactive programmes with an internet browser, an innovation that Microsoft used to help it compete against
Netscape’s Navigator browser, which Microsoft nearly ran out of business.
The award was less than the $1,2-billion the plaintiffs had sought.
Microsoft rejected the charges and promised an appeal. Its attorneys argued that Microsoft’s technology was different than the plaintiffs’ and was invented by programmers at the Redmond, Washington-based company.
The judgement came at a time when the company is facing sanctions from the European Union over anti-trust charges. It faces a large fine and an order to change its business practices. – Sapa-DPA