Microsoft $358 Mln damage award overturned by US court.A U.S. court of appeals on Friday overturned a $358 million damages award against software maker Microsoft Corp in a long-running patent dispute with French telecoms equipment firm Alcatel-Lucent. The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit is a United States court of appeals. The Federal Circuit was created by Congress with passage of the Federal Courts Improvement Act of 1982. The court is headquartered in Washington, D.C., and occupies the Howard T. , which handles many patent and trademark cases, held that Microsoft did indirectly infringe in·fringe v. in·fringed, in·fring·ing, in·fring·es v.tr. 1. To transgress or exceed the limits of; violate: infringe a contract; infringe a patent. 2. Alcatel's patents, but said the damages awarded against the firm were not justified and must be retried re·tried v. Past tense and past participle of retry. . Last year, a U.S. federal court jury awarded Alcatel-Lucent $358 million in damages from Microsoft for violating patents relating to relating to relate prep → concernant relating to relate prep → bezüglich +gen, mit Bezug auf +acc technology that allows users to enter dates into calendars in its Outlook e-mail program Software in the user's computer that can access the mail servers in a local or remote network. Also known as an "e-mail client," "mail client," "mail program," and "mail reader," it provides the ability to send and receive e-mail messages and file attachments. , known as the "Day" patent. "Because the damages award based on the infringing date-picker feature of Outlook is not supported by substantial evidence and is contrary to the clear weight of the evidence, the damages award must be vacated," the court said in its ruling. Both companies took some encouragement from the court's action. "We are pleased that the court vacated the damages award, and we look forward to taking the next step in the judicial process," said Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz. "While we are disappointed that the Court did not affirm the jury's decision on damages, we look forward to an upcoming proceeding to determine the compensation to which Alcatel-Lucent is entitled based on the Court's finding that Microsoft did use our patented invention," an Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman said. The "Day" patent dispute is the last part of a large, long-running, multibillion dollar patent dispute between Alcatel-Lucent and Microsoft. The remainder of the litigation An action brought in court to enforce a particular right. The act or process of bringing a lawsuit in and of itself; a judicial contest; any dispute. When a person begins a civil lawsuit, the person enters into a process called litigation. was resolved last December. Microsoft shares were down 5 cents at $24.95 on Nasdaq, while Alcatel-Lucent shares rose 4.9 percent to 2.758 euros in Paris. |
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