Well, the long-awaited decision in Eolas Technologies, Inc., et al. v. Microsoft Corp. was handed down by the Federal Circuit today. The good news for Microsoft is that the case is remanded for further consideration of its invalidity and inequitable conduct defenses. The half-billion dollar jury award against MS thus goes away, for now. The bad news is that the Federal Circuit upheld the lower court’s claim construction and ruled MS waived certain issues on appeal. If they can’t make the invalidity and/or inequitable conduct defenses stick, they may wind up right back where they started.

I haven’t reviewed the decision fully, but it looks to be a bit of a draw. The parties would be wise to discuss settlement. More later.