Microsoft’s live tiles, a prominent feature of newly-released operating system Windows 8, have earned the Redmond company another patent lawsuit, this one courtesy of a company that conforms to the classic definition of a patent troll.
The suit, which has been filed by non-practising entity SurfCast, alleges that Microsoft’s live tiles feature infringes on the company’s U.S. Patent 6,724,403 – awarded in 2004 – which deals with a “System and Method for Simultaneous Display of Multiple Information Sources.”
According to SurfCast CEO Ovid Santoro, speaking in a message posted on the company’s very bare website, “We developed the concept of Tiles in the 1990s, which was ahead of its time. Microsoft’s Live Tiles are the centerpiece of Microsoft’s new Operating Systems and are covered by our patent.”
Other reports state that SurfCast only began referring to their technology as ’tiles’ in 2011, after Microsoft started using a tiles-based interface on the Windows Phone OS. Prior to that the company referred to the tech as a “‘live application’ web-based service.”.
Microsoft intends to take the suit to court, saying in a statement “We are confident we will prove to the court that these claims are without merit and that Microsoft has created a unique user experience.”
Source: PC World
