Microsoft Hit With $1.52 Billion Verdict in MP3 Suit
A federal jury ordered Microsoft Corp. to pay $1.52 billion to Alcatel-Lucent SA for infringing patents on a fundamental technology for digital music.
In 2003, Lucent Technologies Inc., which last year was acquired by Alcatel, filed 15 patent claims against Gateway Inc. and Dell Inc. for technology developed by Bell Labs, its research arm.
The decision found that Microsoft's Windows Media software had infringed two patents related to MP3, a software technology for recording and playing digital audio.
The patent verdict, one of the largest on record, could have broad repercussions because of the widespread use of the MP3 audio format in technology and electronics products. Devices that employ the technology include Apple Inc.'s iPod, software from Macromedia and Internet services from Yahoo Inc.