Microsoft settles Alcatel Lucent patent suit

By: Jennifer Hong
Staff Writer
Published: Jul 21, 2008

Microsoft paid Alcatel Lucent $367 million for violating two patents related to the user interface in its software.

A US jury awarded Alcatel-Lucent $367.4 million in damages after finding that Microsoft had violated two of its patents related to the user interface in its software.

Alcatel Lucent was seeking $1.5 billion in damages related to the four patents named in the case, but the jury in US District Court in San Diego found Microsoft did not infringe on Alcatel's video decoding technology patent.

The fourth Alcatel Lucent patent in the lawsuit was asserted only against Dell Inc, which was found not to have infringed, according to Microsoft.

"We will move immediately to have the two verdicts against Microsoft overturned. We feel confident the verdicts will be overturned, just as the court overturned a verdict last year by a San Diego jury," said Tom Burt, Microsoft corporate vice president and deputy general counsel in a statement.

Microsoft's previous courtroom victory was when US District Judge Rudi Brewster threw out a jury's $1.5 billion damage ruling against the software giant over audio technology patents claimed by Alcatel-Lucent. The French company has appealed to the judge's decision.