NEW DELHI, INDIA: Cygnus Systems, a Michigan based company focused on computing networking and application needs has sued Microsoft, Google, and Apple for violating a patent allegedly owned by the company.

In the patent infringement suit filed at a court of Arizona, United States Cygnus alleged the IT giants violated a patent that they own over the use of thumbnails in operating systems and web browsers.

It has filed a lawsuit against Google over chrome, Apple over iPhone and Microsoft over Vista and Internet Explorer 8.

Cygnus System said it had acquired exclusive patent for this, which was granted in March 2008.

It has demanded 'reasonable royalty' from the three IT majors, as well has requested a court injunction for preventing any further violation on patent.