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?

The pace of innovation in the technology industry quickened again in 2010, after stumbling momentarily in 2009 because of the global recession. The most potent sign of the rebound was the steady stream of new products, new technologies, and new ideas that pushed the previous boundaries and rethought the status quo.

Of course, innovation means taking risks and some of them — including some the most widely publicized — turn out to duds. And, even some of the most successful new products get overhyped and oversold.

That’s the subject of this week’s Monday morning editorial: the most overhyped products of 2010. Here’s my list.

1: Stay away from retail stores

If you want to get a good deal on a laptop, stay away from major electronics retailers. I don’t want to name names, but there is one major electronics store within half an hour’s drive of my house. I have noticed that its prices are always the same as the MSRP listed on the Internet. Even the store’s sale prices are more expensive than what you would pay if you were to buy the same laptop online.

Of course, the price isn’t the only reason I recommend avoiding the major electronics stores. Things like high pressure sales tactics and upcharges for things I don’t want (such as extended warranties, setup, software suites, and delivery) are enough to drive me insane. Unless I need a computer immediately I avoid the electronics stores at all costs.

2: Decide what’s important to you