"Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen has hit a snag in his
massive patent infringement suit against Apple, Google, Netflix,
Facebook, YouTube, and numerous others. US District Judge Marsha
Pechman dismissed the lawsuit on Friday, according to court
documents, saying that Allen's company failed to specify infringing
products from any of the 11 companies.
"Interval Licensing LLC, Allen's patent holding company, filed
the lawsuit in August and accused 11 Internet giants of violating
four patents. The patents covered three main concepts: browser use
for navigating through information, managing a user's peripheral
attention while using a device, and alerting users to items of
current interest. They collectively addressed the general concept
of presenting searched-for information to a user along with related
news articles, media, status updates from friends, or other
data.
"As many pointed out at the time, Allen's lawsuit did not name
Microsoft, though it did name Microsoft partner Yahoo for
implementing such broadly available technology. In its
announcement, Interval said that it was merely protecting its own
"investment in innovation," despite the fact that Interval does not
create products of its own."
