Silverlight News Desk
Microsoft's Silverlight Widgetry Sued for Patent Infringement
Gotuit Media Corporation Sues Microsoft for Patent Infrigement for Its RIA-building Silverlight Plugin Product
Jul. 18, 2008 02:15 PM
Microsoft and its cross-platform, Flash-rivaling,
RIA-building Silverlight plug-in are being sued in San Francisco for patent
infringement by a no-profile Massachusetts outfit called Gotuit Media
Corporation.
The thin seven-page suit and its venue comes compliments of
California lawyer Spencer Hosie who brought us the highly diverting Burst.com
antitrust suit against Microsoft and its delicious tales of Candy and the Microsoft
document shredder. Burst of course was settled on the courthouse steps for less
than it might have gotten inside.
Anyway, Gotuit says it’s got technology for monetizing video
and other media and can tag scenes in a video with metadata for search,
navigation, targeted advertising, virtual remixing and personalized viewing.
Said widgetry is found in Gotuit’s products, VideoPlayer,
VideoMixer, VideoMarker and VideoPlayer, which, it says, are protected by three
US
patents: Nos. 5,892,536 and 5,986,692, which date back to 1999 and No.
7,055,166, granted in May of 2006.
Gotuit’s problem with Silverlight is that it uses metadata
tags too, which Gotuit claims infringe on its “methods, systems and apparatus.”
It wants an injunction, damages and costs.
About Maureen O'GaraMaureen O'Gara the most read technology reporter for the past 20 years, is the Cloud Computing and Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025. Twitter: @MaureenOGara