A federal judge has dismissed a patent infringement case against Microsoft.
Judge Barbara Crabb of the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin issued the ruling Wednesday in response to Microsoft's request for summary judgment in a case bought by Hyperphrase Technologies, a small Madison, Wis.-based software maker. Hyperphrase claimed that Smart Tags technology included in recent versions of Microsoft's Office productivity software infringed on patents HyperPhrase was granted relating to data storage and retrieval methods.
Smart Tags allow document creators to include links to information in other documents or Web pages. The technology proved controversial in broader use, with Microsoft dropping plans to include it in the Windows XP operating system. Crabb agreed with Microsoft's argument that XML-based Smart Tags operate differently from Hyperphrase's methods and therefore aren't covered by the patents. She dismissed the case, which had been scheduled to go to trial Oct. 6. Microsoft spokeswoman Stacy Drake hailed the ruling. "As an intellectual property company, we are committed to respecting the intellectual property of others, but we also invest heavily in R&D and we will defend our intellectual property when necessary," she said in a statement.
News source: C|Net News.com
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