Microsoft loses Uniloc patent case and $388 million

by Stevie Smith - Apr 9 2009, 16:00

Yet more legal shenanigans after Apple and Elan today locked horns, with news that American software beast Microsoft Corp. has been struck squarely in the pocket to the tune of $388 million USD for illegally violating a technology patent held by Uniloc Inc.

According to California-based Uniloc, which produces specialised applications that work to prevent the illegal installation of licensed software on multiple computers, Microsoft’s XP operating system, certain elements of the Office productivity suite, and Windows Server 2003 have infringed upon one of its patents related to product activation.

With a clearly pleased attorney for Uniloc trumpeting victory after an attending jury found in favour of his client, a federal judge in the U.S. District Court of Rhode Island ordered the significant dollar award in damages after a protracted court battle that has raged between the two parties for more than half a decade.

From Microsoft’s perspective, a company spokesman commented that the software giant maintains it did not commit any act of infringement and that Uniloc’s patent is invalid. He also went on to say that Microsoft will appeal the court’s decision and that the monetary award is legally and factually unsupported.

In related news, Taiwan-based chip design specialist Elan Microelectronics has today placed Apple Inc. within the legal crosshairs following a filing that claims several of the trend-setting American heavyweight’s products (iPhone, iPod Touch and MacBook) infringe on two of its patents related to touch-screen technology.

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The Tech Herald: Apple accused of violating touch-screen technology patents

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