Microsoft has vowed to appeal a $367.4 million payment to Alcatel-Lucent after the U.S. District Court jury of San Diego found that handwriting recognition technology in Microsoft's tablet software infringed on pattern recognition patents held by Alcatel-Lucent. Additionally, it stated 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. However, MS was found not to have infringed on a video decoding patent related to the way the Windows operating system plays DVDs.
"We do not believe the jury's verdict against Microsoft on the two user interface patents is supported by the facts or the law," said Tom Burt, a deputy general counsel at Microsoft, in a statement. "We will move immediately to have the two verdicts against Microsoft overturned."
View: Full Story at the AP
"We do not believe the jury's verdict against Microsoft on the two user interface patents is supported by the facts or the law," said Tom Burt, a deputy general counsel at Microsoft, in a statement. "We will move immediately to have the two verdicts against Microsoft overturned."
View: Full Story at the AP
Last edited by boho on 06 Apr 2008 - 07:58
There is nothing to 'beat.' Lucent has gone from being a high-technology innovator to patent trolls. It's their own fault for overspending, hiring poor management and thinking that just because they were on top they would stay there.
I think Alcatel is just another example of a badly managed company snatching at whatever threads it thinks it sees to escape the sinking ship it has become. Of course, if you are going to tilt at windmills, you may as well tilt at the big ones!
Are you kidding me? The way you click calendar dates from a menu. How do these patents become approved! I swear people can create general patents like ...how users click to open something else. So general yet they could probally get a patent for it anyways. What people and companys can get patented is so stupid.
As with most cases against Microsoft, this is just another cash grab, and a waste of Microsoft's time and money.
When Microsoft had finished appealing the case that Stack ultimately won thru the courts the company was valueless. I am not saying this is gospel but the word was that Microsoft simply bought all Stack stocks before the final ruling, which they lost and so, even though losing a hefty lawsuit they simply paid a now subsidiary of Microsoft the settlement, ie they paid themselves, and wound up the shell company that was left as the wreck.
The computing world used to be a diverse environment before Microsoft started destroying competitors - this cannot be denied - there are several rulings against Microsoft which stood against Microsoft's ruthless appeals.
No smoke without fire.
Haven't you guys heard about Bill's emails submitted as evidence when he was CEO ?
He didn't resign as CEO for no reason - He was forced to under threat of savage legal sanctions against Microsoft. He loved running the day to day business and beating competitors - it's just some of his methods were successfully challenged in court.
None of thes actions were frivilous - at least several very senior judges in various countries did not think s and they had the facts.
Unfortunately, most companies of the 80's or 90's couldn't protect themselves against a company with as much money and aggression as Microsoft.
Commenting has either been disabled on this article or you are not logged in. Click here to login or register, its free!
Note: Anonymous commenting is disabled in order to keep the quality of responses to a high standard.