Allen - who co-founded Microsoft Corporation with Bill gates in 1975 - on Friday sued AOL, Apple, eBay, Facebook, Google, Netflix, Office Depot, OfficeMax, Staples, Yahoo! and YouTube in the US District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle.
He is claiming infringement of four US patents developed by Interval Research, a company founded by Allen and David Liddle in 1992 "to perform advanced research and development in the areas of information systems, communications, and computer science".
Liddle is now a partner with US Venture Partners. The patents are now owned and controlled by Allen's company, Interval Licensing.
Interval Research was shut down in 2000, but was granted about 300 patents during its lifespan and also provided funding for research that led to the launch of Google, according to the complaint.
The suit does not name Microsoft or Amazon.com, although both companies use the technology Allen is claiming infringes his...