(CN) - A federal judge on Friday nixed a patent infringement lawsuit filed by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen against Apple, eBay and Facebook, among other major technology and Internet companies, calling the allegations "spartan."
In Seattle, U.S. District Court Judge Marsha J. Pechman ruled that Allen's complaint, which alleged that the companies had infringed on four of Interval Research's Internet browsing software patents, lacked necessary details and "failed to identify the infringing products or devices with any specificity."
"The allegations in the complaint are Spartan," Pechman wrote. "Plaintiff does not indicate with any specificity which of defendants' products or devices infringe the patents."
The judge gave Allen until Dec. 28 to file an amended complaint.
"The court and defendants are left to guess what devices infringe on the four patents," she added. "Plaintiff only indicates that defendants have websites, hardware, and software that infringe on the patents or that they are encouraging third parties to use products that infringe on the patents. This fails to indicate to Defendants which of their myriad products or devices may be at issue."
The billionaire filed his suit in August, claiming Google, YouTube, Apple, Facebook, Yahoo, AOL, eBay, Netflix, OfficeMax and Staples had violated patents on technology developed by Allen's Palo Alto, Calif.-based technology incubator, Interval Research Corporation.
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