In a lawsuit filed March 20, BackWeb Technologies charges that Microsoft's Background Intelligent Transfer Service (BITS), as well as Windows Update and other products, infringe four of BackWeb's patents.
BackWeb, which is based in Israel and has U.S. offices in San Jose, Calif., filed the complaint in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
BackWeb seeks, among other things, an injunction against Microsoft, a declaration that BackWeb's patents are valid, and monetary damages.
A Microsoft representative said the company has yet to be served with court papers, so it would be "premature" to comment.
BackWeb was an early leader in the technology for "pushing" data onto a computer.
The full lawsuit is posted as a PDF file on BackWeb's site.