Microsoft, Compaq, Others Sued Over Patent for Pen Technology
Microsoft, Compaq, Others Sued Over Patent for Pen Technology
San Francisco, April 29 (Bloomberg) -- Microsoft Corp., Compaq Computer Corp., Casio Inc., Sharp Electronics Corp. and Hewlett-Packard Co. were sued by a California inventor who says the companies have misappropriated his patented technology for entering data into a computer with an electronic pen.
In a suit filed earlier this week in U.S. District Court in San Francisco, Mitchell Forcier of Walnut Creek, California, says he is the owner of two 1993 patents for a system now widely used in which a user enters handwritten data into a computer as if using a pad and pencil.
Forcier contends he invented the ''electronic ink'' data processing system and that a former employer, Aha! Software Corp. of Palo Alto, California, violated confidentiality agreements and sold the technology to Microsoft. Microsoft in turn distributed it to Compaq, Casio, Sharp, Hewlett-Packard and other computer makers as part of the Windows CE system for notepad computers. ''Defendants' infringing acts are an ongoing cause of irreparable harm to Forcier'' and entitle him to damages including lost profits and reasonable royalties, according to the suit, which asks a judge to stop the computer companies' use of his invention.
Officials of Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft, the No. 1 software maker in the world, were not immediately available to comment on the suit. Officials of Houston-based Compaq; Dover, New Jersey-based Casio; Mahway, New Jersey-based Sharp; Palo Alto, California-based Hewlett-Packard; and Aha! Also could not immediately be reached for comment.
Shares of Microsoft fell 1 1/16 to 81 1/16 in afternoon trading today. Compaq fell 1/2 to 23 3/16. Casio's American depositary receipts were unchanged at 68 1/4 when last traded yesterday. Sharp American depositary receipts rose 5 1/2 to 115 when last traded Monday. Hewlett-Packard fell 1 to 78 5/16.
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