A patent infringement ruling in Google's favor has just been overturned by the US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit.

The lawsuit involves contextual linking components in AdSense and AutoLink, a feature in Google Toolbar.

HyperPhrase first filed suit against Google in 2006, asserting both features infringed on four of its patents. PCWorld has details on the patent infringement breakdown.

The US District Court for the Western District of Wisconsin — HyperPhrase's home state — rejected the claims with both hands, issuing a summary judgment in favor of Google.

Federal Circuit judges have advised the district court to reexamine HyperPhrase's assertion on the AutoLink feature, citing "inappropriate interpretation" of terms — like "data reference" — in the ruling.

Michael Kwun, a Google lawyer, expressed pleasure on behalf of his client after the Federal court upheld the AdSense ruling. "We continue to believe the remaining claims in the lawsuit are without merit, and will vigorously defend against those claims," he stated.