After winning patent suit, z4 sues Microsoft again

A company that was just awarded more than $140 million from Microsoft in
a patent-infringement suit has sued the software giant again, this time for
alleged infringements in Windows Vista and Office 2007.

Z4 Technologies, in Commerce Township, Michigan, claims Microsoft has only
made "an insignificant change" in Vista and Office to product-activation
technology that has been found by U.S. courts to violate patents z4 holds. The
privately held company claims that it notified Microsoft of the infringement
on Dec. 19, 2006, but Microsoft has not remedied the situation.

Earlier this month, a federal appeals court upheld a ruling z4 was awarded
last year in Texas on a suit it filed in 2004 against both Microsoft and Autodesk
for infringing on U.S. Patent No. 6,044,471 and U.S. Patent No. 6,785,825. The
patents, which z4 holds, are for product-activation technology aimed at preventing
unauthorized use or piracy of software. Z4, founded by David Colvin, creates
digital rights management technology.

In April 2006, a jury in the U.S. District Court in Eastern Texas found that
both Microsoft and Autodesk infringed on those patents, ordering Microsoft to
pay $115 million to z4 and Autodesk $18 million.

Several months later in August, the judge presiding over the case slapped $25
million more in damages on Microsoft for litigation misconduct, saying in his
ruling that the software company tried to have z4's patents declared unenforceable
even as it continued to willfully infringe on those patents and withheld evidence
of its actions. U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis also upheld the original fines
and ordered Microsoft to pay z4 $1.98 million and Autodesk $322,000 in attorney
fees.

Microsoft appealed the Texas court's decision, but the U.S. Court of Appeals
for the Federal Circuit upheld
it on Nov. 16.

Microsoft spokesman David Bowermaster said on Thursday that Microsoft does
not believe Vista or Office 2007 infringe on z4's patents, and the company is
in the process of reviewing the suit.

IDG News Service

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