Mntsnow
02-03-2004, 7:20 AM
Call it the Cuban missile crisis of rich media advertising. Though it may not be quite as harrowing as that historical event or as dramatic in the telling, one patent conflict has come close to threatening this entire subset of the interactive advertising business.
The danger appears over for now. After saying it would release new versions of its software to comply with a patent ruling, Microsoft shifted gears last week. The software giant now says it will hold off, for now, on issuing a new version of Internet Explorer that would require changes to the code that lets rich media appear in the browser. Though the company's already lost twice in a courtroom (it's appealing again), it now feels there's a good chance the U.S. patent office will swoop in and invalidate the patent in question.
Read more (http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/3307171)
The danger appears over for now. After saying it would release new versions of its software to comply with a patent ruling, Microsoft shifted gears last week. The software giant now says it will hold off, for now, on issuing a new version of Internet Explorer that would require changes to the code that lets rich media appear in the browser. Though the company's already lost twice in a courtroom (it's appealing again), it now feels there's a good chance the U.S. patent office will swoop in and invalidate the patent in question.
Read more (http://www.internetnews.com/IAR/article.php/3307171)