Editing Eolas (section)

== Effects on other browsers ==

In February 2006, Microsoft modified its [[Internet Explorer]] web browser to attempt to side-step the Eolas patent. The change, first discussed in 2003,<ref name="cnet200308">{{cite news
 | title = Will Microsoft tweak IE?
 | first = Matt
 | last = Hines
 | url = http://news.cnet.com/Will-Microsoft-tweak-IE/2100-1012_3-5069943.html?tag=st.bp.story
 | publisher = CBS Interactive
 | date = 2003-08-29
 | access-date = 2009-10-08
}}</ref>
requires users to click once on an ActiveX control to "activate" it before they could use its interface. The specific message is "Click to activate this control", shown as a tooltip when the cursor is held over the embedded object. However, following a November 2007 announcement that Microsoft had "licensed the technologies from Eolas",<ref name="msdn">{{cite web
 | title = IE Automatic Component Activation (Changes to IE ActiveX Update)
 | first = Pete
 | last = LePage
 | url = http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2007/11/08/ie-automatic-component-activation-changes-to-ie-activex-update.aspx
 | publisher = Microsoft
 | date = 2007-11-08
 | access-date = 2009-10-08
}}</ref>
in April 2008, Microsoft released an update which removed the click-to-activate functionality, reverting the software to its original design.<ref name="msdnblog">{{cite web
 | title = The Microsoft Internet Explorer Weblog
 | publisher = Microsoft Corporation
 | date = 2008-04-08
 | url = http://blogs.msdn.com/ie/archive/2008/04/08/ie-automatic-component-activation-now-available.aspx
 | access-date = 2008-04-11
}}</ref>

In June 2006, [[Opera Software]] released version 9 of its [[Opera (web browser)|Opera]] browser for Windows and other operating systems, with modifications similar to Microsoft's.

Doyle has stated that Eolas will offer royalty-free licenses to non-commercial entities.{{Citation needed|date=September 2011}} A statement on Eolas' web site clarifies the company's policy with regard to such licenses.<ref name="eolaslic">{{cite news
 |title        = Licensing
 |url          = http://www.eolas.com/licensing.html
 |publisher    = Eolas
 |access-date   = 2009-10-08
 |archive-url  = https://web.archive.org/web/20100212222034/http://www.eolas.com/licensing.html
 |archive-date = 2010-02-12
 |url-status     = dead
}}</ref> {{As of|2020}}, [[Mozilla Foundation]], which develops the open-source Mozilla Firefox browser, has not announced that it has requested any license to the Eolas patents; the last of these patents expired prior to the end of 2017.

=== Proposed Workarounds ===

Before some claims in the company's patents were invalidated in 2012, one proposed workaround was to dynamically create the [[HTML element]] containing the plug-in using [[JavaScript]], rather than embedding it on the page.{{citation needed|date=February 2012}} In this situation, Internet Explorer did not ask the user for an "activation" click because of the infringers' argument that the patent did not cover embedded scripting.

[[Opera (web browser)|Opera]] users could use [[User JavaScript]] functionality in the browser to attempt to work around this issue in a similar way with locally modified JavaScript.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=349931&t=1283363093&page=1#comment4140641 |title=No Click to Activate - User JavaScript |publisher=opera.com |date=2009-01-28 |access-date=February 11, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110613214924/http://my.opera.com/community/forums/topic.dml?id=349931&t=1283363093&page=1#comment4140641|archive-date=June 13, 2011}}</ref>