Has the Eolas Vampire Finally Been Put to Rest?

Talk about cases that will not die: Remember back in 2005 when Microsoft was tearing its corporate hair out after a BS Patent Office re-exam had upheld the validity of some extremely broad patents owned by Eolas that had cost MSFT a half-billion dollar verdict? Well, courts have finally recognized those patents do not cover the myriad of modern-day Internet activities that Eolas has been claiming they do. As reported yesterday on Bloomberg news, the CAFC (without opinion) has upheld a lower court ruling that the patents cannot be used to sue companies like Google, Amazon, and Yahoo over basic Web practices of linking and embedding different media content types. This is, one hopes, the finally final decision on the case that Eolas originally won 10 years ago but that was subsequently thrown out.