C
Chad Harris
Onto the 9th Circuit. Losing Valet Parking in Belleview, Washington for a
Fridaynight on the town, MSFT's "losingest legal counsel in America" racks
up yet another loss in one of a series of similar cases at the District
Court level. What keeps the lawyuhs of Amerika in toys, cars and mistresses?
Why it's MSFT. MSFT has, however refrained from a claim to the Anna Nicole
Smith body in the circus that has overtaken the US because she was such an
accomplished icon and something everyone can hope for their kids to grow up
to become. How long before there will be a game called "Grab Anna Nicole
Smith's body Now?" A major network, MSNBC is carrying gavel to gavel
coverage before one of Florida's biggest clowns, Larry Seidlin a TV Judge
wannabe.
What does the MS stand for? Ya guessed it MSFT.
February 22, 2007
Microsoft Hit With $1.5 Billion in Damages
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 5:18 p.m. ET
SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. must pay $1.5 billion in damages to
telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA for violating two
patents related to digital music, a federal jury ruled Thursday.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software company said the patents in question
govern the conversion of audio into the digital MP3 file format on personal
computers.
In 2003, Lucent Technologies Inc., which last year was acquired by Alcatel,
filed 15 patent claims against Gateway Inc. and Dell Inc. In April 2003,
Microsoft added itself to the list of defendants, saying the patents were
closely tied to its Windows operating system. The PC makers are still
defendants.
Microsoft said a judge threw out two of the 2003 patent claims, and
scheduled six separate trials to consider the remaining disputes. The case
that was just decided went to trial in San Diego on Jan. 29.
''We think this verdict is completely unsupported by the law or the facts,''
said Tom Burt, a Microsoft deputy general counsel.
Microsoft disputed that Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent's patents govern its MP3
encoding and decoding tools, and said it licenses the MP3 software used by
its Windows Media Player from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, a German company.
''We believe that we properly licensed MP3 technology from its industry
recognized licenser -- Fraunhofer. The damages award seems particularly
outrageous when you consider we paid Fraunhofer only $16 million to license
this technology.''
Microsoft said the damages were calculated by multiplying Windows sales
volumes and PC sales prices worldwide since May 2003.
''We've made strong arguments supporting our view, and we are pleased with
the court's decision,'' Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman Mary Lou Ambrus said.
The court will consider the next of the patent suits, which relates to
speech coding, in March or April, Microsoft said. Other areas in dispute
include video coding on Microsoft's Xbox game console and Windows' user
interface.
Shares of Microsoft slipped 3 cents to close at $29.32 on the Nasdaq Stock
Market. Alcatel-Lucent's stock added 10 cents to end the day at $13.17 on
the New York Stock Exchange.
(UPDATES throughout with details. corrects Dell and Gateway remain
defendants.)
CH
Fridaynight on the town, MSFT's "losingest legal counsel in America" racks
up yet another loss in one of a series of similar cases at the District
Court level. What keeps the lawyuhs of Amerika in toys, cars and mistresses?
Why it's MSFT. MSFT has, however refrained from a claim to the Anna Nicole
Smith body in the circus that has overtaken the US because she was such an
accomplished icon and something everyone can hope for their kids to grow up
to become. How long before there will be a game called "Grab Anna Nicole
Smith's body Now?" A major network, MSNBC is carrying gavel to gavel
coverage before one of Florida's biggest clowns, Larry Seidlin a TV Judge
wannabe.
What does the MS stand for? Ya guessed it MSFT.
February 22, 2007
Microsoft Hit With $1.5 Billion in Damages
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 5:18 p.m. ET
SEATTLE (AP) -- Microsoft Corp. must pay $1.5 billion in damages to
telecommunications equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent SA for violating two
patents related to digital music, a federal jury ruled Thursday.
The Redmond, Wash.-based software company said the patents in question
govern the conversion of audio into the digital MP3 file format on personal
computers.
In 2003, Lucent Technologies Inc., which last year was acquired by Alcatel,
filed 15 patent claims against Gateway Inc. and Dell Inc. In April 2003,
Microsoft added itself to the list of defendants, saying the patents were
closely tied to its Windows operating system. The PC makers are still
defendants.
Microsoft said a judge threw out two of the 2003 patent claims, and
scheduled six separate trials to consider the remaining disputes. The case
that was just decided went to trial in San Diego on Jan. 29.
''We think this verdict is completely unsupported by the law or the facts,''
said Tom Burt, a Microsoft deputy general counsel.
Microsoft disputed that Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent's patents govern its MP3
encoding and decoding tools, and said it licenses the MP3 software used by
its Windows Media Player from Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, a German company.
''We believe that we properly licensed MP3 technology from its industry
recognized licenser -- Fraunhofer. The damages award seems particularly
outrageous when you consider we paid Fraunhofer only $16 million to license
this technology.''
Microsoft said the damages were calculated by multiplying Windows sales
volumes and PC sales prices worldwide since May 2003.
''We've made strong arguments supporting our view, and we are pleased with
the court's decision,'' Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman Mary Lou Ambrus said.
The court will consider the next of the patent suits, which relates to
speech coding, in March or April, Microsoft said. Other areas in dispute
include video coding on Microsoft's Xbox game console and Windows' user
interface.
Shares of Microsoft slipped 3 cents to close at $29.32 on the Nasdaq Stock
Market. Alcatel-Lucent's stock added 10 cents to end the day at $13.17 on
the New York Stock Exchange.
(UPDATES throughout with details. corrects Dell and Gateway remain
defendants.)
CH
