USPTO ruling favors Microsoft in Alcatel-Lucent appeal

April 14, 2009, 03:10 PM —  IDG News Service — 

The U.S. patent office has rejected two claims regarding the last disputed patent in an ongoing legal battle between Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent, appearing to pave the way for the software vendor to win a pending appeals case that would reverse a US$358 million penalty.

In an interim decision last month, the U.S. Patent and Trade Office (USPTO) rejected two claims surrounding the so-called "Day" patent after Microsoft and Dell -- the latter involved in an earlier suit about the patent -- asked for a re-examination of the patent in May 2007.

Alcatel-Lucent and Microsoft had already settled most of the claims of a broad patent dispute that started in 2002 and at one point spanned six different suits. Originally, Alcatel-Lucent charged Microsoft, Dell and Gateway with patent infringement, and then Microsoft counter-sued Alcatel-Lucent the next year to invalidate the patents.

The only claims not resolved are ones surrounding the validity of the "Day" patent that concern how technology is implemented in Microsoft's Outlook application.

The USPTO's decision is significant because in April 2008, a federal jury in San Diego concluded that the same two claims asserted against Microsoft were valid. As a result, the jury ruled that Microsoft infringed the Day patent and awarded $358 million to Alcatel-Lucent.

That same jury also awarded Alcatel $10 million for infringement of another patent, which is no longer at issue.

Microsoft appealed the decision on the Day patent to the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, a case that is still pending.

In an e-mail, Microsoft spokesman David Bowermaster said the USPTO's decision "will bolster our arguments that the Day patent is invalid and the jury's verdict should be reversed."

However, Alcatel-Lucent continues to attest that the Day patent is a "valid and valuable patent," said Mary Ward, a spokeswoman for Alcatel-Lucent.

"Despite Microsoft's suggestion, this interim decision does not conclude the re-examination process or result in an ultimate determination of invalidity of the patent," she said.

The next arguments in the appeals case have been scheduled for sometime in the next few months.

IDG News Service

Sign up for ITworld's Daily newsletter
Follow ITworld on Twitter @IT_world

I like it!
Close

On Twitter now

microsoft

Powered by Twitter
You are logged in | Sign out
Sign in and post to Twitter

What are you thinking?

Cancel Tweet sent

On Twitter now

Post a comment
The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
  • Allowed HTML tags: <a> <em> <strong> <cite> <code> <ul> <ol> <li> <dl> <dt> <dd>
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
peer-to-peer

Esther Schindler
If the comments are ugly, the code is ugly

claird
SVG a graphics format for 21st century

pasmith
Take Chrome OS for a test spin

Sandra Henry-Stocker
Solaris Tip: Have Your Files Changed Since Installation?

sjvn
64-bits of protection?

jfruh
Android fragments vs. the iPhone monolith

mikelgan
What Gizmodo missed about the Pro WX Wireless USB disk drive

 

Where Google Chrome security fails: the password
I heard mention that the Chrome OS will have some sort of encryption available a la bitlocker. If it's possible to encrypt personal data using another password or key, then it may have potential for very secure data.... And Ubuntu has an 'encrypt home directory' option, perhaps google should follow suit.
- Dann

Join the conversation here

The Daily Tip

The Daily TipQuick, practical advice for IT pros. Made fresh daily.

Hot tips:

Want to cash in on your IT savvy? Send your tip to tips@itworld.com. If we post it, we'll send you a $25 Amazon e-gift card.

Newsletters

Subscribe to ITWORLD TODAY and receive the latest IT news and analysis.

I would like to receive offers via email from ITworld partners.
By clicking submit you agree to the terms and conditions outlined in ITworld's privacy policy.
Featured Sponsor

AISO founders envisioned a Web hosting company that was environmentally friendly. While the company employed energy-efficient innovations like solar panels, its infrastructure produced unacceptable power and cooling requirements. Find out how AISO leveraged AMD technology to overcome their challenge in this case study white paper.

In this whitepaper, Scalar explores the opportunity to change the landscape with respect to mission critical databases built around Oracle. Leveraging technologies such as Linux, high-end commodity processing power and Oracle RAC technology to architect, design, build and maintain database infrastructure that delivers maximum availability, reliability and performance at a fraction of traditional cost.

On a typical day, weather.com, the Web site for The Weather Channel in Atlanta, serves up between 15 million and 20 million page views. But in September 2004, when back-to-back hurricanes ransacked Florida, the peak traffic on one day more than tripled: over 70 million page views by more than 7 million unique visitors. Read the full success story now.

Marketplace