InterTrust Technologies, a small US technology company that
develops digital rights management (DRM) software, has said that it
has expanded a long-running patent infringement lawsuit against
Microsoft which could delay the launch of the Windows XP operating
system.
The original lawsuit, filed in April, alleged Microsoft's
infringement of an InterTrust patent for the secure downloading of
digital files using certain DRM technologies. The allegation
identifies DRM components used by Microsoft both in its Window
Media Player and in its Windows ME operating system. The
infringements are also expected in Windows XP.
On Tuesday this week, InterTrust was awarded a patent on for
technology that protects the transfer of digital media over the
internet. InterTrust has amended its lawsuit to add allegations
that Microsoft also infringes this new patent.
InterTrust wants the court to stop the sale of all infringing
products. A spokesman for InterTrust Technologies said, “the
underlying issue is Microsoft's failure to respect InterTrust's
pioneering inventive work'.'
Microsoft has announced that it has dropped plans to use “Smart
Tags” in its Windows XP operating system. Smart Tags would allow
Microsoft to automatically link any word on a web page to a site
chosen by Microsoft. This raised concerns that Microsoft would be
able to control the way in which its users surfed the internet.
Smart Tags will, however, feature in the forthcoming Office XP
package.
