TechCrunch reports the patents Salesforce.com is alleging Microsoft infringed are:

• Patent No. 6,813,633, Dynamic multi-level cache manager.
• Patent No. 6,918,059, Method and system for handling errors in a distributed computer system.
• Patent No. 7,024,454, Work sharing and communicating in a Web site system.
• Patent No. 7,209,929, Java object cache server for databases.
• Patent No. 7,305,454, Apparatus and methods for provisioning services.

In April, Salesforce.com chairman and CEO Marc Benioff said about Microsoft: "The reality is that these patent trolls are unfortunately just part of doing business in technology these days. They're basically the alley thugs. Every thriving economy has alley thugs."

Bringing on Boies is a clear sign Salesforce.com is taking Microsoft's legal threats seriously. During his career, Boies defended IBM during the Justice Department's antitrust case against the company, represented New York Yankees owner George Steinbrenner in a suit against Major League Baseball, represented Vice President Al Gore in Gore's dispute over the 2000 election, represented SCO Group in its controversial Linux patent disputes, and several other high profile intellectual property cases.

Horacio Gutierrez, Microsoft's deputy general counsel for intellectual property told Business Week that, "We remain confident in our position and will continue to press ahead with the complaint."

Microsoft claims Salesforce.com infringed the following patents:

• Method and system for mapping between logical data and physical data
• System and method for providing and displaying a web page having an embedded menu
• Method and system for stacking toolbars in a computer display
• Automated web site creation using template driven generation of active server page applications
• Aggregation of system settings into objects
• Timing and velocity control for displaying graphical information
• Timing and velocity control for displaying graphical information
• Method and system for identifying and obtaining computer software from a remote computer
• System and method for controlling access to data entities in a computer network