The Supreme Court has declined a request by Microsoft to examine its legal dispute with Eolas Technologies. The one-man company won over $500m from Microsoft in 2003 when a court ruled that the software giant had infringed an Eolas patent on embedding executables in web pages.

Microsoft wanted the Court to clarify the damages it was required to pay Eolas' sole proprietor and employee, Professor Michael Doyle and his former employer, the University of California, for losing the infringement case. In 2003, a jury ruled that Microsoft must pay $1.47 for every copy of Windows sold between November 1998 and September 2001, and based on an average selling price of $61, arrived at the figure of $521m.

Microsoft argued that since Doyle's patent is only effective in the US, liabilities should be confined to US revenues. Microsoft has consistently maintained that the Eolas patent ( 5,838,906 or '906) is invalid. Doyle filed the application on 17 October 1994, and it was granted on 17 November 1998. Microsoft claimed that Doyle had concealed evidence of an earlier browsing application, Viola, which constituted prior art. In September, the US Patent Office upheld the patent.

The case continues in the appeals court. ®

Related stories

• US Patent Office returns to Microsoft-Eolas fray (4 June 2007)
• Judge slaps Microsoft with $25m fine top-up (24 August 2006)
• Microsoft wins battle for new judge in Eolas suit (2 August 2006)
• Microsoft's Patch Tuesday looks like a whopper (9 June 2006)
• Microsoft patches IE after Eolas ruling (3 April 2006)
• Eolas patent ruling provokes IE tweak (5 December 2005)
• Patent Office upholds Eolas browser patent (30 September 2005)
• Eolas cashes in on Katrina (14 September 2005)
• MS calls for US patent reform (11 March 2005)
• Appeals court hits rewind in Microsoft Eolas case (3 March 2005)
• MS Eolas appeal begins (10 December 2004)
• Microsoft patents tabbing through a web page (7 September 2004)
• Microsoft wins another Eolas web patent battle (19 August 2004)
• Eolas' web patent nullified (5 March 2004)
• Microsoft loses $521m Eolas patent appeal (15 January 2004)
• Microsoft to face patent violation claims today (8 July 2003)
• Microsoft sued over alleged ActiveX patent violation (3 February 1999)