Microsoft sues Salesforce.com over patents

[bill]

Microsoft sues Salesforce.com over patents [news.cnet.com]

The lawsuit, filed in federal court in Seattle, seeks both monetary damages as well as temporary and permanent injunctions. Specifically, the company seeks a jury trial and also asks that the damages be tripled and that Salesforce be ordered to pay legal fees and other costs, arguing that the company's patent infringement is willful.

...

The patents cover a variety of back-end and user interface features, ranging from one covering a "system and method for providing and displaying a Web page having an embedded menu" to another that covers a "method and system for stacking toolbars in a computer display."

[Hugene]

There is a good post at SVN [37signals.com ] about the patents that M$ is alleging are being infringed upon. The language and is particularly colorful, and the comments section shows people's feelings.

Watch out webmasters, a drop-down menu on your site infringes on M$ intellectual property.

This is simply outrageous, and it shows M$ acting like a wild beast cornered against a wall. I think salesforce.com has to fight this, for the sake of the web in general. Good luck SF.com, all my wishes are with you.