A federal court in Chicago has ruled that Microsoft must pay $521 million to a Web technology company and the University of California after finding that the software giant's Internet Explorer infringed on their patents. The company, called Eolas Technologies, originally filed suit against Microsoft in 1999, alleging that the Redmond, Wash., giant infringed on its patents when enabling Internet Explorer to use plug-ins and applets in the software. The company's technology was first outlined in a patent application in the early 1990s.

Martin Lueck, an attorney with Robins Kaplan Miller & Ciresi who represented Eolas, said the jury likely was swayed by internal documents from Microsoft. The specific patent from Eolas was not mentioned in the documents, but Microsoft executives had described the necessity for technology that conformed to the outlines of the patent. "Microsoft executives talked about the need to have a browser that would serve as an application delivery platform," Lueck said. Read more at CNet.

Thanks to NeoWin FYI.