MasterObjects has decided to sue Microsoft (News - Alert) for alleged patent infringement, according to media reports.

At issue is the display of completed search terms, when users type words into a search inquiry, reports PC World.

MasterObjects has launched lawsuits against Amazon and Google on similar grounds.

MasterObjects says technology that is used by the defendant companies “was almost identical to the method it had patented,” TechEye reports.

In addition, TechCrunch, in a report carried by The Washington Post, asks if Yahoo, eBay (News - Alert) and Apple are next on the list for lawsuits from MasterObjects.

Microsoft allegedly uses the technology in several of its offerings, such as Bing, TechEye says.

MasterObjects main product is called "QuestFields," the company says on its website. “QuestFields provide a highly scalable solution for near-instantaneous retrieval of information from large content sources,” the company says. “Unlike other ‘Rich Internet Application’ (RIA) solutions, QuestFields require no development or programming and include an enterprise-grade server that connects to existing databases, directories, search engines, web services, XML files, flat files, and legacy systems.”

In a related matter, TMCnet recently reported that Novell (News - Alert) has recently won an appeal to continue a legal battle in its antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft.

In 2004, software maker Novell sued Microsoft claiming its word processing app WordPerfect was hurt by “unfair competition” from Microsoft. The claims appear to mostly relate to computer Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs,) TMCnet said.

Last March, a federal judge dismissed the last two antitrust claims Novell filed against Microsoft in 2004.But an appeals court ruled this month that the judgment made in a lower court needs to be dismissed, says TMCnet.

Novell can now go forward with its antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft, reports Reuters (News - Alert).

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