BOSTON -- MICROSOFT was in court again on Wednesday, this time in Chicago for a little-known patent infringement case filed early last year by a small research and development company.

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Eolas Technologies, which develops Internet technologies that it licenses to third parties, is alleging that Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft's Windows 98, Windows 95, and Internet Explorer products infringe on its patented technology. Eolas says it holds a patent on technology that allows a Web browser to access interactive programs embedded in a Web page, such as plug-ins, applets, scriplets, or ActiveX controls.

Microsoft disputes all the claims made by Wheaton, Ill.-based Eolas, which filed its suit in February 1999 in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Illinois. According to its initial court filing, Eolas is seeking unspecified damages and an injunction to force Microsoft to stop manufacturing the allegedly infringing products.

"We have a very strong position in this case and we believe we did not infringe on the patent," said Microsoft spokesman Jim Cullinan. "We do not think the patent is valid. We are confident of our position in this case. Our interpretation on the patent is the right interpretation and we look forward to hearing the court's decision on this matter."

Three days have been reserved starting Wednesday for a hearing on the case before District Court Judge James B. Zagel. The hearing, called a Markman hearing, is the first stage where patent infringement claims can be made before a judge.

The patent in question is held by the Regents of the University of California and inventors Michael Doyle, David Martin and Cheong Ang. Doyle is the chief executive officer of Eolas, which is the exclusive licensee of the patent.

Doyle, who could not be reached for comment Wednesday, led a research team in the early 1990s that developed a software system designed to provide the medical community with inexpensive access to 3D medical images over the Internet. During the development, Doyle and his colleagues discovered their technology could be embedded into any kind of program on a Web page.

Eolas' lead attorney in the case also could not be reached for comment Wednesday. Doyle has said in the past that the patent could potentially apply to other products on the market that use a system for accessing executable programs in Web pages. All major browsers, in fact, currently support Web applets, and Doyle and Lueck have yet to explain publicly why they singled out Microsoft in the suit.

The Eolas patent in question is U.S. Patent No. 5,838,906, granted Nov. 17, 1998. It can be viewed on the Web by searching the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site at www.uspto.gov.