The Register® — Biting the hand that feeds IT

Feeds

Oops – MS patent lawyers say browser is separate

Patent contradicts other lawyers' case, apparently...

  • print
  • alert

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery

The Department of Justice yesterday revealed an embarrassing document for Microsoft - a 1998 US patent where Microsoft's patent lawyers appeared to make it clear that Web browsers and operating systems were two separate things. The patent relates to online banking, and includes the words: "It should be understood by those skilled in the art that a Web browser, such as Netscape Navigator or Internet Explorer … is separate from the operating system." The DoJ's David Boies said he'd discovered the patent over the weekend, and happily noted that Microsoft's patent lawyers and its antitrust lawyers seem to think different things. Microsoft retorted that the patent referred to versions of Internet Explorer for non-Windows platforms such as Mac or Unix - which are separate applications. ® Complete Register trial coverage

Magic Quadrant for Enterprise Backup/Recovery

More from The Register

 breaking news
BBC-featured call centre slapped with hefty fine for unwanted calls
PPI pests: Swansea-based firm stung for £225k by ICO
Microsoft to open Windows Stores inside 600 Best Buy locations
Product showcases 'must be seen to be believed'
Author Iain (M) Banks falls to cancer at 59
Misses the release of his final work
 breaking news
What did the Lehman Brothers implosion look like to a techie?
Insider tells all about the Gnab Gib at Lehmans
It's official: 'tweet' an English word – not just in the avian sense
If the Oxford English Dictionary says it is so, then it is so
 breaking news
The only Waze is Google: Ad giant tipped to gobble map app 'for $1.3bn'
Pac-Man-satnav-ish upstart in bidding war with Apple, Facebook
 breaking news
1-in-10 e-tomes 'are self-published'... most are 'rubbish' says book ed
Publishing man scoffs at go-it-alone writers, ursines still fouling in forests
 breaking news
Facebook RSS reader said to uncloak June 20
Secret event scooped by Scottish developer?