Microsoft escapes $1.5 billion bill
p2pnet news | product news:- Microsoft doesn’t have to pay $1.5 billion to Alcatel-Lucent SA in MP3 patent-infringement case, a California judge has ruled.
It’s also good news for Apple and RealNetworks, among others.
Judge Rudi Brewster of the US District Court for the Southern District of California in San Diego, “said one patent in the case wasn’t infringed by Microsoft” and on the other, “the court couldn’t didn’t have jurisdiction because a co-owner of the patent didn’t join in the suit,” says the IDG News Service.
Alcatel-Lucent was awarded the $1.5 billion in damages at the beginning of the year in one of six cases involving patent disputes between the two companies, says the story.
“Brewster also said the second patent is owned by both Alcatel-Lucent and Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, a German company Microsoft paid $16 million for rights to use the technology,” according to Associated Press, which also states:
“Since Fraunhofer did not also sue Microsoft, the Redmond-based software maker is in the clear, the judge decided.”
The decision, “seems to ease fears that Alcatel-Lucent would launch legal attacks against the hundreds of other companies that license technology from Fraunhofer, including Apple Inc. and RealNetworks Inc,” it adds.
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Also See:
IDG News Service – Judge reverses patent ruling against Microsoft, August 7, 2007
Associated Press – Judge reverses $1.5 billion judgment against Microsoft in digital music patent fight, August 7, 2007
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