Read about Burst.com’s lawsuit against Microsoft — Here’s a lawsuit under the radar. As I discuss in an upcoming PC Magazine essay this is only one of many actions you’ll be seeing in the future as big software companies get targeted by the software patents they themselves encouraged.

Plaintiff Burst.com, Inc. (“Burst”) brings this action for damages and other relief for Defendant Microsoft Corporation’s (“Microsoft”) wrongful theft of Burst’s intellectual property and damage to its business by means of anticompetitive, collusive and exclusionary business practices. Burst spent years and many millions of dollars developing innovative technology to deliver high quality video over computer networks such as the Internet. Upon seeing the threat posed by Burst’s innovative technology, as it had in the cases of many other smaller competitors …

Burst Homepage

And here is part of the press release here:

Santa Rosa, CA: Burst.com, Inc. (OTC: BRST) Chairman & CEO Richard Lang today announced that Burst.com has filed a lawsuit accusing software giant Microsoft Corporation of violations of the Patent Act, Sherman Act Sections 1 & 2, California Cartwright Act (anti-trust), California Business & Professions Code Section 17200 (unfair acts or practices), the California Trade Secrets Act and for breach of contract. Burst.com is being represented in the action by San Francisco law firm Hosie, Frost, Large & McArthur; and Palo Alto intellectual property law firm Carr-Ferrell, LLP.

In the complaint, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California Tuesday, June 18th, Burst alleges that:

1. Microsoft’s newly announced “Corona” product uses technologies and

trade secrets misappropriated from Burst.com. These proprietary technologies are protected by numerous U.S. and International patents (and patents pending). Microsoft met with Burst over a two-year period and negotiated unsuccessfully for the rights to use Burst’s innovative technology.

2. Microsoft anticompetitively damaged Burst in violation of federal and state antitrust laws in many of the same ways that prompted the federal courts to find that it monopolized the market for Intel-compatible operating systems.

Lang claims that Burst technology is essential to Microsoft, because it enables high quality video-on-demand over the Internet, which is key to Microsoft’s .NET strategy via Windows Media Platform applications. “Microsoft clearly sees high-quality video and audio delivery as their ticket into dominating the Internet-video enabled set-top box market, as well as the Internet appliance market,” said Lang. “Burstware is the ‘3rd generation streaming’ technology that Microsoft has been bragging about as if it was their own.”