Microsoft's High-Stakes Patent Litigation

A federal jury in San Diego found that Microsoft had infringed patents of Alcatel-Lucent (a French company) and ordered it to pay $1.52 billion in damages -- the larges patent-infringement verdict in the history of patent law. Not surprisingly, Microsoft plans to appeal. It also has a separate case in which it is suing Alcatel. This highlights the stakes in the pending Supreme Court case between Microsoft and AT&T. Patent case hits Microsoft with $1.5 billion penalty, Seattle Times, Feb. 23, 2007.