Microsoft Pays $440M to License InterTrust Patents

Posted by timothy on Monday April 12, 2004 @11:33AM from the never-intertrust-anyone dept.

theodp writes "Microsoft is paying $440 million to InterTrust to settle a three-year-old patent infringement lawsuit over DRM technology for protecting music, movies and other digital content against piracy. Under the settlement agreement, customers can use Microsoft products and services without a license from InterTrust. Developers, however, may need a license from InterTrust for other uses, including the combination of Microsoft technology with third-party technology." C.J. adds a link to the New York Times' coverage of the settlement.

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Re:0.4 billion. by Osrin · 2004-04-12 12:22 · Score: 4, Informative

http://www.nasdaq.com/asp/extendfund.asp?symbol=MS FT&selected=MSFT&page=full

That shows a net profit of about $26bn, and around $10bn in net earnings for 2003.

Times are probably not as tough as you think.