Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Alcatel Awarded $367 Million in MS Patent Case

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the new-business-models dept.

eldavojohn writes "For violating two Alcatel-Lucent patents in its Windows user interface, Microsoft was ordered to pay Alcatel-Lucent $367 Million Friday. From the article, 'Microsoft, which will seek to have the verdict overturned, said Alcatel-Lucent was seeking $1.5 billion in damages related to the four patents named in the case. Microsoft said the jury found that Microsoft did not infringe on Alcatel's video decoding technology patent. The fourth patent in the lawsuit was asserted only against Dell Inc, which was found not to have infringed, according to Microsoft.'"

6 of 65 comments (clear)

  1. patents will end up being ignored by timmarhy · · Score: 2, Interesting
    it's already happening the developing world. company X seeks unreasonable patent claim, country Y simply says fuck you.

    patents were devised as a way to protect inventors and allow them to make a return on their idea's in exchange for releasing that device into the public domain after a reasonible amount of time (similar to copyright).

    the problem is that right now -anything- is being considered a bloody invention. maybe some kind of system where all the patents logded once a year get assessed in competition with each other, and only the top 1000 best idea's get patent protection or something. that way there is no incentive to try flood the system with crappy obivous patent ideas.

    --
    If you mod me down, I will become more powerful than you can imagine....
  2. Indemnification? by johannesg · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Since anyone using those patents is now guilty of violation, there is a risk that Alcatel will go after Windows users next. Does *your* organisation have a risk mitigation plan for when the lawsuits start flying? Or will you simply close your eyes and hope that Microsofts "indemnification" is worth more than the pixels it is printed on?

    How does that indemnification work anyway? As far as I can tell, any legal proceedings would be between Alcatel and targeted patent violators - i.e. Microsoft has no standing in such cases. Do they offer to pay for any damages and cost incurred? In that case I guess the risk is acceptable after all...

  3. In defense of software patents by pieterh · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The arguments for and against software patents are old and boring, so I wrote a devil's advocate defense of software patents a few months back.

    In fact most of the arguments for software patents are based on 150-year old arguments that protection from competition is the best way to push innovation.

    The arguments were bogus in 1820 and they are bogus today.

    Innovation does not need protection from competition, it needs as much competition as possible, in the most free market possible.

    Kill software patents!

    --
    My blog
    1. Re:In defense of software patents by HardcoreWizard · · Score: 2, Interesting

      Patents are not free. At least not in my country. And you have to pay lawyers to research whether or not your invention has been patented in another form first. Don't get me started on the price of an international patent. If we ignore the rest of the patent system and focus on software patents, take this case: You invent a great never-seen-before feature which - if added to existing word processing features - will make an MS Word/OpenOffice Writer killer. You go out and patent it, and then you hire a couple of developers and implement your new word processor. It will not take long before the lawyers from one of the big corporations find another feature in your word processor which they own the patent for. You can now choose between paying them big bucks, or give away your patent. I just can't see how the patent system - in its current form - protects the innovator. It's more like paying protection money to the mafia.

  4. Re:patents are really not the way by HardcoreWizard · · Score: 2, Interesting

    You're mixing copyright law and patent law. And I don't see MS getting stopped. They probably earn more by ignoring patents, and just paying up when they get sued. The independent developer would get destroyed by a case like this though. It's rather depressing and extremely counterproductive. Let the ideas be free for gods sake, and copyright the implementations if you feel like it!

  5. Re:patents are really not the way by HardcoreWizard · · Score: 2, Interesting

    Then make your implementation better. If you patent your idea, but you're a crappy programmer or only intend to support a single platform, why shouldn't more talented or ambitious people have a chance to use your idea? Or maybe even improve it! That's innovation. I can't really acknowledge the concept of "owning intelligence".