Judge sets jury verdict aside as unreasonable
Microsoft is once again making headlines in a high-profile patent infringement case. This time the patent infringement case in question is the long-running legal proceedings between Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent.
The case in question has to do with a $358 million damage award a jury granted to Alcatel-Lucent as part of a multi-billion dollar suit against Microsoft. A federal court jury awarded Alcatel $358 million in damages over Microsoft's violation of a patent that is dubbed the "Day" patent.
The patent in question has to do with the user's ability to enter dates into a calendar in Outlook for a specific day. A judge has overturned the jury award after saying that the damages awarded against Microsoft were not justified.
The judge wrote in his ruling, "Because the damages award based on the infringing date-picker feature of Outlook is not supported by substantial evidence and is contrary to the clear weight of the evidence, the damages award must be vacated."
Reuters quotes Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz saying, "We are pleased that the court vacated the damages award, and we look forward to taking the next step in the judicial process."
An Alcatel spokeswoman said, "While we are disappointed that the Court did not affirm the jury's decision on damages, we look forward to an upcoming proceeding to determine the compensation to which Alcatel-Lucent is entitled based on the Court's finding that Microsoft did use our patented invention."
The "Day" patent was reportedly part of a much larger suit that was mostly settled back in December of 2008. This is the second massive verdict against Microsoft for Alcatel that a judge has overturned. A judge reversed a $1.5 billion award levied against Microsoft in August of 2007. The 2007 reversal had to do with patent litigation governing MP3s that Microsoft claimed to have licensed for $16 million from the Fraunhofer Gesellchaft research firm.
