News

Company Says .NET Violates Its Patent

Fort Worth, Texas-based application system developer Vertical Computer Systems Inc. announced Friday that last week it filed a patent infringement lawsuit against Microsoft.

The company alleges that Redmond violated one of its patents, 6,826,744, in developing Microsoft .NET Systems.

According to the U.S. Patent Office Web site, the patent under contention covers "a system and method for generating computer applications in an arbitrary object framework," so that "each may be accessed or modified separately."
It was first filed in 1999 in Austin, Texas.

Vertical Computer Systems' ultimate goal may be to obtain licensing payments from Microsoft: In 2006, the company issued a press release stating that it had hired a law firm to pursue licensing of the patent from various companies.

The suit was filed Wednesday in the United States District Court, Eastern District of Texas. According to several news reports, the filing came after Vertical Computer Systems contacted Microsoft about the usage in February.

When asked for a comment, a Microsoft spokesperson said, "Microsoft has not yet been served, so it would be premature for us to comment at this time."

Vertical Computer Systems offers a number of software packages for Web services, including its "Flash" line of products -- SiteFlash, ResponseFlash, NewsFlash -- and the Emily XML Scripting Language. It also offers emPath through its subsidiary, NOW Solutions Inc.

About the Author

Becky Nagel serves as vice president of AI for 1105 Media specializing in developing media, events and training for companies around AI and generative AI technology. She also regularly writes and reports on AI news, and is the founding editor of PureAI.com. She's the author of "ChatGPT Prompt 101 Guide for Business Users" and other popular AI resources with a real-world business perspective. She regularly speaks, writes and develops content around AI, generative AI and other business tech. She has a background in Web technology and B2B enterprise technology journalism.

Featured

  • Microsoft Appoints Althoff as New CEO for Commercial Business

    Microsoft CEO and chairman Satya Nadella on Wednesday announced the promotion of Judson Althoff to CEO of the company's commercial business, presenting the move as a response to the dramatic industrywide shifts caused by AI.

  • Broadcom Revamps VMware Partner Program Again

    Broadcom recently announced a significant update regarding its VMware Cloud Service Provider (VCSP) program, coinciding with the release of VMware Cloud Foundation (VCF) 9.0, a key component in Broadcom’s private cloud strategy.

  • Closeup of the new Copilot keyboard key

    Microsoft Updates Copilot To Add Context-Sensitive Agents to Teams, SharePoint

    Microsoft has rolled out a new public preview for collaborative "always on" agents in Microsoft 365 Copilot, bringing enhanced, context-aware tools into Teams channels, meetings, SharePoint sites, Planner workstreams and Viva Engage communities.

  • Windows 365 Cloud Apps Now Available for Public Preview

    Microsoft announced this week that Windows 365 Cloud Apps are now available for public preview. This aims to allow IT administrators to stream individual Windows applications from the cloud, removing the need to assign Cloud PCs to every user.