Alcatel-Lucent Wins $368 Million Patent Suit Vs. Microsoft

San Diego, CA. (AHN) - Software giant Microsoft was ordered Friday by a federal court to pay $368 Million in fines for infringing two patents owned by Alcatel-Lucent SA for touch- screen form entry and use of a stylus on computers. Alcatel-Lucent had asked for about $1.75 billion from Microsoft and Dell Inc. after claiming four of its patents were violated. U.S. District Judge Marilyn L. Huff also ruled that Dell infringed the stylus patent and owed Alcatel-Lucent $51,000. The court, however, rejected claims of infringement on two other patents related to video controls.

Based on Bloomberg data, the Alcatel-Lucent verdict stands as the second-biggest patent award this year, and the fifth-biggest in U.S. history. Interestingly, the record is also held Alcatel-Lucent, a $1.52 billion case against Microsoft..

In February 2007, a San Diego jury ruled that Microsoft's Windows Media Player infringed Lucent patents related to the MP3 digital-audio standard and awarded Alcatel- Lucent a then-record $1.52 billion in damages.

The biggest patent verdict in 2008 was a $431 million jury award against Boston Scientific Corp. in Texas over heart devices.