Alcatel-Lucent v. Microsoft
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[edit] Origin of the cases
The dispute between Microsoft and Lucent (and later Alcatel-Lucent) began in 2003 when Lucent Technologies (acquired by Alcatel in 2006) filed suit against Gateway and Dell in U.S. District Court, San Diego, California. Lucent claimed in this first San Diego case that Dell and Gateway had violated patents on MP3-related technologies developed by Bell Labs, a division of predecessor company American Telephone & Telegraph. Other patents said to be infringed relate to MPEG video technology, speech technology, internet technology, and other technologies. Microsoft voluntarily joined the lawsuit in April of 2003 and Alcatel was added after it acquired Lucent.[1]
After the first San Diego lawsuit was filed, Microsoft and Lucent have filed additional patent lawsuits against each other.
In February 2007, Microsoft filed a lawsuit at the International Trade Commission claiming that Alcatel-Lucent infringed its patents.[2]
There is a second case in San Diego where Microsoft is asserting that Alcatel-Lucent infringes 10 of its patents, and yet another case in Texas where each alleges that the other is infringing its patents.[3]
[edit] Patents
In the first San Diego case, Alcatel-Lucent claims ownership of several patents relating to MP3 and MPEG encoding and compression technologies, as well as other technologies. The patents were obtained as the result of work done at Bell Labs before the break up of American Telephone & Telegraph. Certain patents at issue are:
U.S. Patent No. 5,341,457, Perceptual Coding of Audio Signals, to Joseph L. Hall and James D. Johnston.[4]
U.S. Reissue Patent No. RE39,080, Rate loop processor for perceptual encoder/decoder, to James D. Johnston.[5]
[edit] Trials
The first part of the San Diego case involved the '457 and '080 audio coding patents. Alcatel-Lucent claimed that Microsoft's Windows Media Player infringed these patents by virtue of its MP3 capabilities. Testimony was given by inventors James Johnston and Joseph Hall. Coincidently, AT&T inventor James Johnston was employed by Microsoft post-AT&T breakup and during the trial.[6] Additional testimony was taken from Dr. Karlheinz Brandenburg, who worked with Johnston at Bell Labs.
On February 22, 2007, a San Diego jury found for Alcatel-Lucent and against Microsoft. Alcatel-Lucent was awarded a record-breaking $1.52 billion in damages. The damages could have been $4.5 billion but the jury was unable to decide if the infringement was "willful." Microsoft disputed the verdict, maintaining that the federal jury's decision was "unsupported by the law or facts",[7] since Microsoft had already paid $16 million to license the technology from Fraunhofer IIS which, it claims, is "the industry-recognized rightful licensor".[8]
Subsequently, on August 6, 2007 the federal judge in San Diego, U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster, granted Microsoft's motions for Judgment and for new trial, saying that the jury's decision was not supported by the evidence. The Judge's Order [9] found that there was insufficient evidence both for Microsoft's liability and for the damages model used by Alcatel-Lucent. Alcatel-Lucent has said it would appeal. [10]
A week after the first jury verdict, on March 2, Judge Brewster ruled in the second part of the case that Microsoft had not violated Alcatel-Lucent's patents relating to speech recognition and the case was therefore dismissed before going to trial. Alcatel-Lucent stated that it intends to appeal.[11][12]
The trial in the third part of the San Diego case involves several user interface-related patents. Trial is scheduled to begin on May 21. In April 2008, US jury awarded Alcatel-Lucent $367.4 million in damages after finding that Microsoft had violated two patents related to the user interface in its software.[13] Finally, Microsoft lost the case.[14]
[edit] References
- ^ "Microsoft ordered to pay Alcatel-Lucent $1.52B for infringement", Physorg.com, February 23 2007. Retrieved on 2007-02-24.
- ^ ITC to rule on Microsoft, Alcatel-Lucent IPR spat | DSP DesignLine
- ^ Microsoft's Court Battles With Alcatel-Lucent Far From Over - Patents - InformationWeek
- ^ United States Patent: 5341457
- ^ United States Patent: RE39080
- ^ August 15
- ^ BBC NEWS | Business | Microsoft faces $1.5bn MP3 payout
- ^ Microsoft hit with $1.5 billion patent verdict | CNET News.com
- ^ Pleading Paper
- ^ Bangeman, Eric. "Judge tosses verdict, $1.52 billion award in Microsoft MP3 patent case", arstechnica, August 06, 2007.
- ^ Broache, Anne. "Microsoft wins in second Alcatel-Lucent patent suit", CNET News.com, March 2, 2007. Retrieved on 2007-03-04.
- ^ Montalbano, Elizabeth. "One Patent Claim Against Microsoft Dropped", March 03, 2007.
- ^ Jury rules for Alcatel in Microsoft patent case | Reuters
- ^ Microsoft loses U.S. patent suit vs Alcatel-Lucent
