Microsoft sued over dynamic Web page technology

A patent-holding company has sued Microsoft Corp. for patent infringement for technology used in dynamic Web pages.

Parallel Networks filed suit late last week in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas over two patents, U.S.Patent Nos. 5,894,554 and 6,415,335 B1. The company was granted the patents in 1999 and 2002, respectively, according to the court filing.

The patents cover systems and methods for managing dynamic Web-page generation requests. Parallel said it believes Microsoft is willfully infringing on them and is demanding a jury trial.

Parallel, in Tyler, Texas, was formed originally in the 1990s as InfoSpinner to provide software to make Web sites run faster. The company eventually shut down, changed its name several times, and since 2002 has functioned primarily as a patent-holding company that files lawsuits based on its sizable patent portfolio.

Other companies Parallel has sued for patent-infringement include Netflix, Amazon.com, Orbitz and Priceline.com.

A Microsoft spokesman said today he was looking into the matter.

The Texas court where the case is filed is historically sympathetic to plaintiffs in patent-infringement cases. A jury there last month ordered Microsoft to pay $200 million to i4i in another patent-infringement case.

The i4i ruling was the second to go against Microsoft for patent infringement in as many months. In April Microsoft was ordered to pay $388 million to Uniloc, a company that makes antipiracy tools.