Microsoft prevails in startup acceleration case

Stephen Withers
Monday, 19 November 2007 01:48

IT Industry - Strategy

A jury has failed to uphold a Computer Acceleration Corporation patent on a technology used to reduce the time needed to start up a computer and to launch programs.

The case was brought by the Acacia Research Corporation subsidiary, which claimed Microsoft's Windows XP operating systems infringed on its patent.

The jury invalidated the patent on the grounds that it was obvious and did not describe a new technology.

Patent 5,933,630 was filed in June 1997, and describes a method of recording the files accessed while a program starts up, optimising the sequence and on subsequent launches moving all the required data into a RAM cache.

Computer Acceleration Corporation was seeking $US2.50 for every copy of XP sold in the US, which could have totalled as much as $US900 million.

The case was brought in the Texas Eastern District Court, a venue generally thought to be favourable to patent plaintiffs.

Last month, Computer Acceleration Corporation filed patent infringement suits against IBM, Gateway, HP, Sony, Acer, Dell and Lenovo.