By David Becker, 14 October 2004 09:10
NEWS A federal judge ruled against Microsoft on Wednesday in a patent suit challenging "AutoPlay" technology included in recent versions of Microsoft Windows.
Judge Jeffrey White of US District Court for the Northern District of California denied three Microsoft motions for summary judgment in a suit filed by TV Interactive Data (TVI), a small California company specialising in interactive television technology.
Each motion sought to invalidate TVI patents cited in the case, on grounds of prior art and other causes. White ruled Microsoft offered insufficient evidence against the patents, and the case should go to trial as scheduled.
TVI filed the suit in 2002, alleging that AutoPlay technology included in every PC version of Microsoft's operating system since Windows 95 infringes on its US patents 5,795,156 and 6,249,863.
AutoPlay examines the contents of a CD-ROM or other type of optical disc that is inserted into a Windows PC and automatically executes the most appropriate task, such as launching the installation program for a new software application.
Both TVI patents cover a "host device equipped with means for starting a process in response to detecting insertion of a storage media" and describe an "autostart driver in the host device [that] detects insertion of a storage media into a peripheral and automatically starts an application."
David Becker writes for News.com
Comments
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1. Emrah BASKA
Patents for software is a shameful act and is ruining the industry for what its worth.
In this case, as if Autoplay is a really hard to devise and plan system, it is protected by a foolish patent. I wonder the date of the patent, because my Amiga500 would detect if there is a disk inserted and if so, would execute the proper boot sequence AUTOMATICALLY. That may be a prior art thinking how old Amiga500 is. Tho honestly I haven't checked the date of the patent in this case. Anyway, whether it was granted before or after Amiga, it is foolish nonetheless.
2. Ian Sargent
And car stereos have been auto-playing cassettes for many years now.
3. Simon
Surely these patents are daft, as all video players do this with pre-recorded tapes? DVD's do the same.
All PC's have detected whether a floppy disk was present and boot from that over the hard drive.
The process however does not have to be automatic in Windows, in fact I have configured my machines to offer multiple options when a CD is inserted.
4. Ruprecht
I would argue that booting from media is not the same as Auto Play as this is typically a BIOS setting that just states which order devices should be checked for bootable media on start up.
The patent refers to detection of media inserted, implying that the system is already 'booted'.
Has anyone looked to see whether manufacturers of video, DVD and other players honor the patent and have therefore not been taken to court?
5. Craig
MS should take this opportunity to remove this function in a hot fix. I always thought it was a stupid idea to have a program run without intervention whenever you insert a disk. Did I not just read an article about a virus that propagates via AutoRun functionality?
6. Rickard
Didn't the Amiga do this in 1987?
7. Lionel A Smith
Auto-play of a CD can be a virus hazard but at least until Win XP one could disable this feature. With Win XP Microsoft omitted the facility to turn off this feature. Responsible behaviour? I think not.
Yes I know one can hold down the shift key to inhibit Auto-play but how many users are aware of this?
8. Nick Cole
Autostarting is not new, and never has been in living or recent memory. It is a concept taken from pre-existing systems, doesn't a light bulb autostart when plugged into a powered socket for example?
Patents are supposed to be for new and novel solutions. Applying an old concept to modern systems isn't grounds for a patent. It appears that US patent law is in mess and they allow registration of things that should never have been patented. Or is this an industry in its own right, come up with an idea, patent it and then try and apply it in areas that they hadn't thought of? It seems that they are extending the scope of their patent unreasonably. How auto-playing a software CD on a computer relates to television is not known and why was thi snot covered in their patent? And what about the issues of simultaneous and inevitable development? Common problems tend to give rise to common solutions.
Perhaps this is a case of someone trying it on against a rich 'baddy' and the court failed to exercise any authority and wanted somebody else to rule instead.
There are better things to hit Microsoft (and others) with than this.
Mind you it might put a stop to auto-play trying to reinstall an existing programme because its data disc has been inserted!