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Microsoft to Pay $1.52 Billion in Patent Suit Damages

Posted by CowboyNeal on from the coughing-up-the-dough dept.

An anonymous reader writes "A U.S. federal jury found that Microsoft Corp. infringed audio patents held by Alcatel-Lucent and should pay $1.52 billion in damages, Microsoft said Thursday. The news comes after reports that U.S. Supreme Court justices expressed doubts about whether Microsoft Corp. should be liable for infringing AT&T Inc. patents in Windows software sold overseas."

5 of 170 comments (clear)

  1. Microsoft and the Law by Macka · · Score: 4, Informative


    What we have learned to date is that Microsoft will never have to pay anything like this kind of penalty. Even if they are guilty, they have already demonstrated their ability to heap appeal on top of appeal until many years from now, technology advancements will have moved the goal posts, effectively rendering the original claim irrelevant.

    Their mastery of the legal system is so complete that were Eliot Ness alive today, Microsoft would be the principal nemesis in The Untouchables 2.

  2. It's not over yet by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Informative

    MS still has a number of appeals. Most importantly, the Federal Circuit has a 30-40% reversal rate in patent claim construction cases. It's too early to say that MS will pay.

  3. Re:Which way will /. go? by Tim+Browse · · Score: 4, Informative

    The problem is, of course, is that Microsoft has *never* used patents offensively.

    You and other slashdot posters can keep saying that, but that doesn't make it true.

  4. Re:Which way will /. go? by Speare · · Score: 4, Informative

    Another case where Microsoft used patents offensively: FAT drive formatting and Long Filename FAT extensions. http://www.dpreview.com/news/0312/03120403microsof tisfat.asp Doesn't seem so defensive here.

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  5. Re:Which way will /. go? by Paradise+Pete · · Score: 4, Informative
    $1.5 billion is a lot of money, even for Microsoft

    Yup. Based on last year's gross profit they're going to have to save up for almost 15 days to pay that off. That's gotta hurt. That's like a whole paycheck right down the drain.