Microsoft Co-Founder Loses Round One in Lawsuit Against Google, Apple & Facebook

A judge has dismissed Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen’s lawsuit against Google, Apple, Facebook and others for patent infringement.

Back in August, Allen originally claimed that 11 different companies, including YouTube, Netflix and AOL, had violated four different patents associated with web search and e-commerce. These patents are tied to both software and business methods.

Now, however, a court has sided with Google et al. in a motion to dismiss the case, saying Allen’s claims were too vague and lacked “adequate factual detail to satisfy the dictates of Twombly and Iqbal” — two cases that are precedents for requiring adequate evidentiary support.

The decision further states that Allen “has failed to identify the infringing products or devices with any specificity. The Court and Defendants are left to guess what devices infringe on the four patents… These allegations are insufficient to put Defendants on ‘notice as to what [they] must defend.’”

Allen will have until December 28 to return to the court with a more specific complaint.

The patents Allen is claiming were infringed upon are as follows:

• United States Patent No. 6,263,507 issued for an invention entitled “Browser for Use in Navigating a Body of Information, With Particular Application to Browsing Information Represented By Audiovisual Data.”
• United States Patent No. 6,034,652 issued for an invention entitled “Attention Manager for Occupying the Peripheral Attention of a Person in the Vicinity of a Display Device.”
• United States Patent No. 6,788,314 issued for an invention entitled “Attention Manager for Occupying the Peripheral Attention of a Person in the Vicinity of a Display Device.”
• United States Patent No. 6,757,682 issued for an invention entitled “Alerting Users to Items of Current Interest.”

Do you think this lawsuit still stands a chance?