A two-year patent dispute will finally begin to affect Web developers and users in 2006, as Microsoft makes changes to Internet Explorer (IE) to avoid further infringement on a patent held by Eolas and the University of California. The changes mean Web developers will have to redesign some pages that use ActiveX controls or else their users will face minor inconveniences when accessing interactive elements on such pages. However, the changes to IE are less disruptive than those Microsoft originally warned about in 2003.

Changes Less Disruptive than Expected

The patent in question covers the ability of a Web browser to automatically launch other applications in order to support interactive elements, such as ActiveX controls, embedded in a Web page. In fall 2003, shortly after a district court jury found that IE infringed on the patent, Microsoft warned that it would have to make significant changes to IE that could severely degrade the user experience. Specifically, each affected control on a Web page would have presented a dialog box before allowing the user to view the element. To avoid such prompts, Web developers would have had to rewrite their pages in certain specified ways.

A series of legal challenges has allowed Microsoft to delay any changes to IE. However, in Sept. 2005, the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) upheld the validity of the Eolas patent. To avoid further patent infringement liability, Microsoft says it will change IE as follows:

• All ActiveX controls that are loaded via the Applet, Embed, or Object tags (which can be embedded within the HTML of a Web page) will load, but users will not be able to interact with them (e.g., click on or type in the control), until they are activated. For example, an ActiveX control that plays music would play normally, but users would be unable to change volume or tracks until the control is activated
• To activate each control, the user will be able to click on it or use a combination of keys (pressing Tab to select each control, then pressing Enter or the Spacebar to activate it).

This is less disruptive than Microsoft's original proposal: instead of having to click "OK" on a cascade of dialog boxes, users will need to take action only if they wish to interact with a particular ActiveX control. In some common scenarios, such as non-interactive Flash advertisements, users will not notice any change. Developers can avoid these changes entirely by creating ActiveX controls in scripts that are external to the affected Web pages.

Microsoft has not explained why it is now providing less-disruptive changes to IE than it originally threatened. One possibility is that the company's legal team has looked more carefully at the wording of the patent, along with subsequent legal rulings in the case, and has decided that Microsoft can skirt the patent with less disruptive measures. Another possibility is that Microsoft presented a worst-case scenario in hope of obtaining support from the broader Web community for its challenge to the Eolas patent. In fact, the severity of the proposed changes helped prompt the W3C (a Web standards governing body) to join Microsoft in its initial appeal of the jury verdict.

Despite the USPTO's ruling, Microsoft continues to appeal the original jury verdict, which included a fine of more than US$520 million but was vacated by an appeals court in Mar. 2005. The USPTO's ruling could make it harder for Microsoft to avoid a fine for past infringement, but the company believes that the IE changes will shield it from further liability.

Availability and Resources

In Jan. 2006, Microsoft will begin distributing the altered version of IE6 with all new copies of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, as well as through Windows Update. Microsoft expects the majority of IE users to have the altered browser by mid-2006. IE7, the next full release of the browser, which will be included with Windows Vista (expected in late 2006) and available for download on Windows XP SP2, will also include the changes. (IE 7 is in Beta 1, but Microsoft has not revealed its final release date.)

A Microsoft Developers Network (MSDN) article describing how Web developers can bypass the changes to IE is at msdn.microsoft.com/library/default.asp?url=/workshop/author/dhtml/overview/activating_activex.asp.

The USPTO's decision to uphold the patent is covered in "RealNetworks Settles, Eolas Patent Upheld" on page 45 of the Nov. 2005 Update.

Microsoft's original proposed changes to IE are discussed in "Lawsuit Drives Browser Changes" on page 7 of the Nov. 2003 Update.