Cygnus Systems has initiated a patent infringement law suit with Niro, Scavone, Haller & Niro Partners against Microsoft, Google, and Apple Inc.  Cygnus is also a Microsoft Certified Gold Partner. Cygnus Systems claims it has a patent (US Patent 7346850 - System and method for iconic software environment management, applied in 2001, issued March 18, 2008) on the way simplified preview snapshots of different file types appear prior to being fully opened by the user. The company says this exact feature appears in Windows Vista, Mac OSX, Google Chrome, the iPhone, among other applications. The exact amount of the suit was not fully disclosed. The patent details can be found here. I personally don’t think any remedy will be given as courts are reluctant to issue damages for software patents.