NetView Technologies, Inc. (Belmont, MA) has sued Microsoft in Boston for infringement of Patent No. 7,251,776 related to flexibly utilizing spreadsheet information. The patent in question has 34 claims, only one of which is independent. And that independent claim appears to broadly cover the concept of defining a parameter external to a spreadsheet and applying that parameter to the spreadsheet. The patent has a priority date of July 13, 2001.
Microsoft’s SharePoint and Excel products are specifically accused as infringing.
Interestingly, the complaint asserts that Microsoft was aware of “the invention” by virtue of the fact that NetView’s published patent application (which matured into the ‘776 patent) was cited against one of Microsoft’s European patent applications. This section of the complaint is obviously directed at willfulness, but I don’t think this kind of “notice” has, by itself, ever supported a finding of willfulness.
One final note--although the complaint asserts that NetView “has been engaged in” software development, it is unclear whether NetView is a going concern. Its website (www.netviewtechnologies.com) seems dormant and does not appear to have been updated since 2004. Also, the website states that NetView is located in Waltham, MA but the complaint says Belmont, MA.
We’ll see how far this one goes.
NetView Tech., Inc. v. Microsoft, Inc., 09-12072-DPW (D. Mass. Dec. 4, 2009)
Comments