Dell, Microsoft Win Delay in Automatic Brightness Patent Dispute

Dell Technologies Inc. and Microsoft Corp. won a court order granting permission to pause a dispute over allegations the automatic brightness controls of their computer screens violate a patent held by Polaris PowerLED Technologies LLC.

US Magistrate Judge Dustin M. Howell of the US District Court for the Western District of Texas’s Austin division granted the computer makers’ joint request to halt court proceedings until the US Patent and Trademark Office completes ex-parte re-examination of US Patent No. 8,223,117.

Polaris, a patent-monetization company, acquired the ‘117 patent in early 2018. Microsoft asked the PTO to re-examine that patent after Polaris ...