Online services company Network Commerce has been awarded a trial date in its patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft.
The software giant is accused of using the smaller company's technology in its Windows operating system, Windows Media Player and other products.
Network Commerce, whose top executive is a former general manager at Microsoft, filed the lawsuit Dec. 6 in U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, said Anne-Marie Savage, a spokeswoman for Network Commerce. It was notified by the court last week that a trial date has been set for September 2003. "It's quite a process with all the discovery," she said, explaining the delay.
The suit accuses Microsoft of infringing a patent on a method for selling software, digital music and digital video over the Internet, Network Commerce said in a statement. Specifically, U.S. Patent No. 6,073,124 describes a system that uses "separate servers and a download component to coordinate the downloading of digital content for online transactions," the company said.
The patent was filed for in July 1997 and approved in June 2000, according to the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site. It was issued to ShopNow.com Inc., which Savage said is a former name of Network Commerce.
Network Commerce, based in Seattle, plans to seek monetary damages, the amount of which has yet to be determined, Savage said.
Microsoft did not immediately return a call seeking comment.
News source: InfoWorld - Microsoft sued over e-commerce patent
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