Ouch, patents are so broad in what they cover
Tags :Announcement
Even though this is a drop in the big $$ bucket
we know as Microsoft, being accused and then judged against that you stole
someone else's software always hurts
Microsoft (
Quote,
Chart)
has agreed to pay $60 million to Imagexpo LLC to settle charges that the
software colossus wrongfully infringed on the firm's patent.
A federal court jury last month awarded $62.3 million in damages to Imagexpo's parent, printing software and industrial technology giant SPX Corporation (Quote, Chart), in a decision that found Microsoft had intentionally incorporated Imagexpo's whiteboarding technology into Windows NetMeeting. The technology is protected under ten-year old U.S. Patent No. 5,206,934, "Method and apparatus for interactive computer conferencing."
Microsoft could have been liable for even greater damages -- up to $186.9 million -- due to the court's finding that it intentionally misused the patented technology. Under the terms of the settlement, however, Microsoft will pay SPX $60 million this week, minus legal and other unspecified expenses, SPX said.
SPX did not disclose why it agreed to the settlement when it could have received between $2.3 million and about $125 million more. However, it's likely that Microsoft had aimed to appeal the court's finding by presenting evidence that could have challenged Imagexpo's patent, rendering it invalid.
Then of course this begs a whole other argument that are patents becoming so broad that everything falls under everything?
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On Wednesday, January 7th, 2004 by Chris Miller
