Tech giant to appeal ruling

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Tuesday, Aug. 12, 2003 | 9:28 a.m.

CHICAGO -- A federal jury Monday ordered Microsoft to pay $520 million to a software start-up and the University of California after finding that Microsoft's Internet Explorer browser infringed on a patent.

Microsoft said it would appeal the finding, which is only the second but biggest ever patent-dispute loss for the software giant. An appeal would likely take years, and the judgment may not survive.

The lawsuit, filed in 1999 by Chicago-based Eolas Technologies and the university, says that Internet Explorer violates a 1998 patent of inventor Michael Doyle, who worked for both entities.