Today’s Chicago Tribune (subscription) has a nice article on the Eolas case by reporter Barbara Rose. Most interestingly, her reporting does not fall in line with the trendy headlines like “Microsoft Wins Again,” “Two Strikes for Eolas,” and “USPTO Close to Rejecting Plug-in Patent.” Rose correctly notes that the Examiner accepted Eolas arguments that prior art submitted by WC3 did not invalidate the patent at issue.
Doyle’s attorney, Martin Lueck, said Eolas and the University of California are “very pleased” that the examiner accepted their arguments.
The examiner wrote that Eolas’ rebuttal to his office’s previous rejection of the patent’s claims “has been fully considered and is deemed persuasive.”
Eolas is not out of the water — the Patent Examiner was able to discover three more references and argue that the combination of those references rendered the Eolas patent obvious. Eolas must now respond to this new rejection. I was quoted in the article as saying that Eolas is in a “fairly good position.”
— Dennis Crouch