Texas company files suit against Microsoft, Adobe

A Texas-based company has filed a suit against Microsoft and Adobe for allegedly infringing on two patents for technologies that display content in a Web browser in key software products, including Microsoft's Windows Vista.

Aloft Media holds patents for two technologies called "Network Browser Graphical User Interface for Managing Web Content" and "Network Browser Window with Adjacent Identifier Selector," U.S. Patents 7,117,443 and 7,194,691, respectively. Both patents are for technologies related to the GUI that displays URLs in a Web browser.

In its court filing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, Aloft alleges that Microsoft infringes upon both patents in Internet Explorer 7 and Windows Vista and Adobe infringes on them in Acrobat Standard, Acrobat Professional, and Acrobat 3D. Aloft is a little-known startup that develops digital media.

According to the U.S. Patent and Trade Office, Aloft filed both patents in October 2003. The '443 patent was granted on Oct. 3, 2006, and the '691 patent was granted March 20, 2007.

Aloft is seeking a jury trial and wants an injunction granted against the companies, damages, and attorney fees from the court.

Adobe said through its public relations firm that it does not comment on pending litigation. Microsoft said through its public relations firm that it has not yet been served and so has no comment.