A federal appeals court ruled Friday that Microsoft Corp. does not have to pay Alcatel-Lucent $ 358 million for patent infringement, because a number of problems with the way in which such compensation was calculated.
The patent in dispute relates to a method of inserting information in different parts of a computer screen without using a keyboard. Alcatel-Lucent said that the calendar in Outlook and other Microsoft technology used illegally.
A jury in federal district court ruled that compensation should equal roughly the amount that Microsoft had paid in advance to Alcatel-Lucent to license the technology.
But on Friday, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that the telecommunications equipment company did not demonstrate that its technology was valuable enough to warrant the payment of $ 358 million in royalties.
The judges of the appeals court ordered a district court to reconsider the penalty.
Mary Ward, spokeswoman for Alcatel-Lucent, said in an e-mail that the company was disappointed with the decision.
But in the same ruling, the judges reaffirmed the central verdict against Microsoft, considering it was adequately supported by the evidence.
Microsoft shares fell 14 cents Friday to $ 24.86. Shares of Alcatel-Lucent gained 18 cents or 4.6%, to close at $ 4.07.
This patent application is the last of six charges stemming from Lucent Technologies Inc. filed in 2003 against PC makers Gateway Inc. and Dell Inc., on technology developed by Bell Labs, Lucent's research arm. Then, Microsoft joined the list of defendants.
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