Jury Tells Microsoft To Pay Alcatel $367m @ .NET DEVELOPER'S JOURNAL

Jury Tells Microsoft To Pay Alcatel $367m

The Court Has Been Worked Through the Charges Finding That Microsoft Infringed Two Patents Named In the Latest Case

Apr. 17, 2008 03:45 PM

Remember that swat of 15 infringement complaints that Lucent made in 2003 against Dell and Gateway? A couple of which, concerning MP3 audio technology in the Windows Media Player, resulted in a record $1.5 billion decision against Microsoft that subsequently got overturned?

Well, the court has been working its way through the charges and on Friday a San Diego jury awarded the French company $367.4 million in damages, finding that Microsoft infringed two patents named in the latest case – one charge concerning the DVD video decoding technology in Windows was thrown out; a fourth was only asserted against Dell, which is now supposed to pay the French $51,000.

Microsoft immediately said it would appeal. Microsoft’s countersuit against Alcatel is still to be heard.

One of the claims relates to handwriting recognition widgetry used in Tablet PCs and the other to the way people enter dates in calendars in Outlook and Windows Mobile.

Alcatel-Lucent wanted $1.75 billion on these claims alone.

Microsoft inserted itself into the case after Alcatel-Lucent sued Dell and Gateway. Gateway, now owned by Acer, settled in February.

Alcatel acquired the patents when it bought Lucent in 2006.

Published Apr. 17, 2008 — Reads 2,951
Copyright © 2008 SYS-CON Media. All Rights Reserved.

About Maureen O'Gara
Maureen O'Gara is the Virtualization News Desk editor of SYS-CON Media. She is the publisher of famous "Billygrams" and the editor-in-chief of "Client/Server News" for more than a decade. One of the most respected technology reporters in the business, Maureen can be reached by email at maureen(at)sys-con.com or paperboy(at)g2news.com, and by phone at 516 759-7025.

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