Microsoft Sued Over Windows 8 Live Tiles
Microsoft's legal team put to work on Windows 8-related patent infringement lawsuits.
SurfCast claims that it invented the Live Tiles used in Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. As a result, the company claims that it is entitled to damages.
SurfCast refers to a patent that it was awarded in 2004 that describes an approach of self-updating content. The patent focuses its technology on connected PDAs as well as WAP phones. Microsoft said that it will prove that the lawsuit has no merit.
It is unclear how much of a case Surfcast really has, but the technology approaches are similar and rely on a communication framework between client devices and servers that store data. The difference is that Surfcast refers to its own servers as data store, while Microsoft's patent refers to general servers and not specifically its own to retrieve the data for updating the tiles. In fact, if Microsoft talks in its Live Tile patent about Microsoft servers, the company may be in hot water. If not, this case can be handled by interns.
Of course, the validity of Surfcast's patent could be questioned as well. The technology is very reminiscent of push-content technology that was aggressively (and unsuccessfully) promoted by Internet startup Pointcast in the late 1990s.
Contact Us for News Tips, Corrections and Feedback
Stay on the Cutting Edge
Join the experts who read Tom's Hardware for the inside track on enthusiast PC tech news — and have for over 25 years. We'll send breaking news and in-depth reviews of CPUs, GPUs, AI, maker hardware and more straight to your inbox.
-
sslapikas Soon, very soon we will have time when everyone will be able to sue everyone for anything because at any time in future they had an idea about round wheel or even patented wheel with different type of roundness. Happy days for lawyers!Reply
I am going to sue every youngster who born on same day as me and have same name just because I did this first! Had to choose another day you losers! :) -
classzero amuffinSo, what about Apple and Google? Why just Microsoft?Because Apple and Google use static icons, not live tiles. Just a thought.Reply -
silverblue And Microsoft had live tile-effect graphics in Windows 1.01. Again, just a thought.Reply -
vigorvermin SteelCity1981as a result windows 9 will not have any live tiles.Reply
More like they will just buy out SurfCast.
Most Popular
By Aaron Klotz
By Mark Tyson
By Mark Tyson
By Zhiye Liu
By Aaron Klotz