Patent claim against Microsoft, HP dismissed

A federal judge last week dismissed a patent-infringement suit filed by E-Pass Technologies against Microsoft and Hewlett-Packard over certain mobile technologies. The suit, filed in February 2002, charged that Microsoft and HP infringed on E-Pass' patent describing a particular method for storing and information from various individual credit cards in a single electronic multi-function card. The company sued, accusing Microsoft Windows Mobile and HP mobile devices infringed on the patent.

The lawsuit, filed in U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Texas, was dismissed by U.S. District Judge Kenneth Hoyt on Aug. 4. The judge ruled that there was no infringement, granting a motion seeking such a ruling filed by Microsoft in May and supported by a separate filing by HP. "As a company that respects the intellectual property of others we are pleased that Microsoft prevailed on its non-infringement claim," Tom Burt, deputy general counsel for Microsoft, said in a statement.