Microsoft must pay $1.52 billion in damages to Alcatel-Lucent for infringing patents relating to MP3 encoding and decoding, a US jury has decided.

Microsoft is asking for the decision to be dismissed; failing that an appeal will be issued.

In a statement, Microsoft said that the verdict is competely unsupported by “the law or the facts”:

“Like hundreds of other companies large and small, we believe that we properly licensed MP3 technology from its industry recognized licensor – Fraunhofer. The damages award seems particularly outrageous when you consider we paid Fraunhofer only $16 million to license this technology.”

The decision only days after Microsoft sued Alcatel-Lucent for using ten of its patents that involve future methods for transmitting combined voice and data messages.

“We are seeking to stop the future importation of unlicensed Alcatel-Lucent products into the United States until Alcatel-Lucent has taken an appropriate license,” Guy Esnouf, a Microsoft spokesman, said in a statement.

The University of Pittsburgh awarded Alcatel-Lucent a $300 million contract to upgrade its communications systems last year.

Microsoft obviously feels threatened.

This has already been a four year battle between the two companies, when Alcatel-Lucent sued Dell and Gateway in 2002. Microsoft supplies much of the technology to those manufacturers .

Related:

Entry was posted on Thursday, February 22nd, 2007 at 5:11 pm under Legal, Microsoft.

Read more entries by Craig Childs.
Stumble It!