Jury Verdict Overturned In Microsoft Patent Case

Microsoft won a reversal of a jury's record $1.52 billion verdict in a landmark case over Alcatel-Lucent's MP3 digital-music patents.

U.S. District Judge Rudi M. Brewster in San Diego said in a 43-page order yesterday that the jury's damage award couldn't stand because one of the two patents wasn't infringed. Ownership of the second disputed patent was questionable, and a new trial may be needed, Brewster said.

A jury decided in February that Microsoft of Redmond, Wash., must pay $1.52 billion for violating the two patents, the largest patent verdict in U.S. history. The two sides argued in court July 25 and 26 over whether the verdict should stand.

Brewster yesterday also ordered a new trial on the damage. The panel calculated the damage award using 0.5 percent of the average sales price of an infringing computer multiplied by every copy of Windows.

Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent, a maker of telecommunications equipment, argued that the record damage award was fair and reasonable and ought to be increased because it accounted only for sales through November 2005.