December 15, 2010 - In August of this year, a company called Interval Licensing LLC (founded by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen) sued 11 Internet giants - AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo and YouTube - alleging infringement of four patents. That lawsuit was dismissed on December 10.
Judge Marsh Pechman, filing a ruling for the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington, wrote that Interval's complaint "lacks adequate factual detail."
Google's request for dismissal put that criticism more sharply, saying that "Interval is not entitled to waste Court and party resources with a scattershot Complaint against multiple Defendants that fails to give any indication as to which products or services Interval contends are infringing and the factual basis for such a claim."
The judge's ruling, however, allows Interval to file an amended complaint by December 28.
The four allegedly infringed patents relate to Internet browser technology and the way information is displayed.