Business | Technology
Split decision in Lucent-Microsoft patent row
Court reinstates one of the cases tossed out last year while backing the dismissal of the other.
- AP
- Published: 23:56 May 9, 2008
New York: A federal appeals court reinstated one of two patent cases tossed out last year in the ongoing user-interface technology dispute pitting Alcatel-Lucent against Microsoft and Dell.
The appeals court said the San Diego district court erred in its determination of a "terminal device" and remanded the case, which was dismissed, back to the court for further proceedings.
The technology covered by the patent in that matter is a communications protocol that aids information exchange between a host processor computer and a terminal device, like a portable computer or smart phone.
Dismissal of the second patent case, which concerns methods used to compress speech by removing redundant pitch information, was backed by the appeals court.
The patents asserted against Microsoft and Dell are among a number being litigated by the companies in an ongoing case that originated in 2003.
In early April, a jury ordered Microsoft to pay $367.4 million in damages to Alcatel-Lucent, which the company said it would appeal.
The most high-profile decision stemming from the imbroglio was handed down last year, when Microsoft was ordered to pay $1.5 billion for infringing Alcatel-Lucent patents related to MP3 technology. That decision was later reversed.
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