Newsletter # 5
Microsoft to pay 367 Million to Alcatel- Lucent
On Friday 4th April, 2008 the jury of the U.S. District Court in San Diego ordered Microsoft to pay 367 Million dollars to Alcatel –Lucent for violating two patents. According to the Associated Press, the court found that “ handwriting recognition technology in Microsoft's Tablet PC operating system infringed on pattern recognition patents held by Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent[and] that some of Microsoft's programs, including the Outlook e-mail application and the Windows Mobile operating system, infringed on an Alcatel-Lucent patent in the way users select calendar dates from a menu.” (Mintz, 2008) However, Microsoft was found not guilty for infringing a video decoding patent that is associated with the way the Windows operating system plays DVDs.
The fact that the jury decided that they did not violate all four patents and denied Alcatel- Lucent the 1.75 billion dollars in damages that they sought, was considered a victory by Microsoft.
Microsoft however, plans to appeal this decision as well as put forth their own case against Alcatel- Lucent for violating nine patents in a trial which will begin April 22, 2008.
Sources:
Mintz, J. (2008). Microsoft to appeal $367 million ruling it infringed on Alcatel-Lucent patents. Retrieved April 06, 2008, from The Washington Post: http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/04/04/AR2008040403357.html
Microsoft loses $367 million patent case. (2008). Retrieved April 5, 2008, from United Press International: http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/Business/2008/04/05/upi_newstrack_business/4802/
Microsoft ordered to pay $ 367 million to Lucent Alcatel. (2008, April). Retrieved April 7, 2008, from Mister-Info.com: http://www.mister-info.com/?cmd=displaystory&story_id=10411&format=html