Jury hears technical details of Microsoft patent infringement case

[David Farber <dave () farber net>]

Begin forwarded message:

From: Timothy Barmann <tbarmann () projo com>
Date: September 16, 2004 8:48:50 AM EDT
To: David Farber <dave () farber net>
Subject: Jury hears technical details of Microsoft patent infringement 
case

Hi Dave,

Thought IPers might find this interesting ...

Tim Barmann
--Timothy Barmann
  Technology Writer
  The Providence Journal

http://www.projo.com/business/content/projo_20040916_16ms16.2cec80.html
PC jargon dominates patent trial

A Providence jury hears all about the "Smart Tag" technology at the 
center
of the lawsuit filed against Microsoft.

01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, September 16, 2004

BY TIMOTHY C. BARMANN
Journal Staff Writer

PROVIDENCE -- Jurors for the Microsoft patent-lawsuit trial in U.S.
District Court got an earful of computer jargon yesterday.

They heard lawyers and an expert witness bandy about arcane terms such 
as
"compiler," "source code" and "dynamic-link libraries."

The four-man, four-woman panel is being asked to decide whether 
Microsoft
Corp.'s popular line of Office products, including Word and Excel,
infringe on a patent held by a small, Cayman Islands software company.

Arendi AS and its Providence-based subsidiary, Arendi USA, contend that
Microsoft's "Smart Tag" technology infringes on Arendi's patent number
6,323,853, issued three years ago.

....

Jurors had to sit through a wide range of testimony -- from the basic to
the highly technical.

David Klausner, a computer consultant hired by Arendi, said he had
examined several Microsoft Office products, as well as the computer
programming instructions used to make them, and concluded that they
infringed on seven aspects of Arendi's patent.

In getting to that conclusion, his testimony sounded like a brief lesson
in computer science. It included the obvious, such as what a CD-ROM 
looks
like.

But it also contained highly technical explanations, such as how one can
write a customized Smart Tag DLL using certain programming tools.

The jury appeared attentive throughout the testimony, often bending
forward in their seats to view evidence presented on flat-screen 
monitors
in the jury box.

...



-------------------------------------
You are subscribed as interesting-people () lists elistx com
To manage your subscription, go to
 http://v2.listbox.com/member/?listname=ip

Archives at: http://www.interesting-people.org/archives/interesting-people/