Paul Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, is apparently mad as hell at the rest of the Internet. His Interval licensing has laid a lawsuit smackdown on an alphabet soup of companies, including but not limited to Apple, Google, Facebook, AOL, eBay, Yahoo–and so on. Allen and Interval, a developer of computer tech, say the legal actions are all about infringement of tech-related patents Interval has filed over the years:
In the suit filed in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, Interval is seeking damages and a halt to the alleged violations of patents it said were fundamental to e-commerce and search.
Of the companies who commented on the lawsuit, the largest were the most vocal. In a statement quoted by Reuters, a Google spokesperson said the lawsuit “reflects an unfortunate trend of people trying to compete in the courtroom instead of the marketplace.” Facebook’s Andrew Noyes basically said ‘bring it on,’ stating the suit was “completely without merit” and Facebook “will fight it vigorously.”
[Reuters]
