I have turned up a Web page which tends to confirm the rumours that I had been hearing about their being prior art in the Eolas case. Perry Wei, in a page entitled Personal Comments on Eolas vs Microsoft, and the Viola Prior Art describes apparent contacts in the early to mid 1990's with Michael Doyle, now of Eolas regarding prior art in the Viola browser.
It seems very odd, if prior art is pivotal to whether granting a patent is appropriate or not, that the evidence mentioned wasn't admissable.
From a distance that doesn't make sense. Perhaps there are other aspects to the story which have yet to emerge.
Posted by Andrew Watt at October 9, 2003 08:07 PM