The original lawsuit, filed in April, alleged Microsoft's infringement of an InterTrust patent for the secure downloading of digital files using certain DRM technologies. The allegation identifies DRM components used by Microsoft both in its Window Media Player and in its Windows ME operating system. The infringements are also expected in Windows XP.
On Tuesday this week, InterTrust was awarded a patent on for technology that protects the transfer of digital media over the internet. InterTrust has amended its lawsuit to add allegations that Microsoft also infringes this new patent.
InterTrust wants the court to stop the sale of all infringing products. A spokesman for InterTrust Technologies said, “the underlying issue is Microsoft's failure to respect InterTrust's pioneering inventive work'.'
Microsoft has announced that it has dropped plans to use “Smart Tags” in its Windows XP operating system. Smart Tags would allow Microsoft to automatically link any word on a web page to a site chosen by Microsoft. This raised concerns that Microsoft would be able to control the way in which its users surfed the internet. Smart Tags will, however, feature in the forthcoming Office XP package.