Microsoft Corp.'s quest for a new trial in a patent-infringement case it lost has resulted in a bigger fine for the software company.
A judge in a U.S. District Court in Eastern Texas Friday slapped an additional US$25 million in "enhanced damages" on Microsoft for "litigation misconduct" in a patent case z4 Technologies Inc. brought against the software vendor and Autodesk Inc. in September 2004.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis said that Microsoft tried to have z4's patents declared unenforceable even as it continued to willfully infringe on those patents and withheld evidence of its actions. He ruled that this misconduct merits adding to the amount of damages Microsoft must pay z4 in the case.
Davis also denied motions by both Microsoft and Autodesk to schedule a new trial after a ruling in April that they must pay z4 millions of dollars for infringing on two of the company's patents.
The Texas court awarded z4, a private company founded by David Colvin and based in Commerce Township, Michigan, US$115 million from Microsoft and $18 million from Autodesk to settle a patent-infringement suit.
In addition to the added $25 million fine levied against Microsoft, the company also must pay z4 $1.98 million in lawyer's fees, according to court documents. A judge also ordered Autodesk to pay $322,000 in attorney's fees to z4 and also upheld the company's original fine.
The verdict in the case in April found that both Microsoft and Autodesk infringed on U.S. Patent No. 6,044,471 and U.S. Patent No. 6,785,825, both held by z4. The patents are for product-activation technology aimed at preventing unauthorized use or piracy of software.
Z4 develops digital rights management technology. The company could not be reached immediately for comment Thursday.
Both Autodesk and Microsoft continue to contend that neither company infringed on z4's patents. In an e-mailed statement on Thursday, Autodesk spokeswoman Caroline Kawashima said the company is "very disappointed" and plans to appeal the decision.
"We believe that the facts in this case clearly show that Autodesk and others developed their own product activation technologies well before z4 Technologies claims to have created this technology," she said.
In a statement from its public relations firm, Microsoft echoed Kawashima's statements and said it also plans to appeal the court's decision.
This whitepaper explains the terminology and concepts behind Data Replication technologies and establishes some sizing rules through worked examples. Learn the new paradigm in disaster tolerance—protect data anywhere.
Download now »
Server virtualization is a popular option for dealing with mounting datacenter costs. Another equally promising approach is the use of an Application Delivery Controller. Citrix NetScaler provides a low-cost way for organizations to reduce their server count and accrue cost savings from a reduction in space, cooling, power and personnel.
Download now »
The emergence of WLANs has created a new breed of security threats to enterprise networks.
Included in HP ProCurve WLAN solutions is security technology that alleviates threats from WLANs through:
* Monitoring wireless activity inside and out of the enterprise
* Classifying WLAN transmissions into harmful and harmless
* Preventing transmissions that pose a security threat to the enterprise network
* Locating participating devices for physical remediation
Effectively address data protection challenges, implementing solutions that help store and protect business–critical data while cutting costs and improving efficiency and reliability.
Download now »
Sign up to receive Security Resource Alerts
This white paper provides guidance on how to develop a strategic approach to managing and monitoring logs, a key function required for compliance with many regulatory mandates and a critical defense against security threats.
Download now! »
Learn about the processes and technologies that support security information management (SIM) operations, as well as the business case for SIM. The series examines different options for implementing SIM and gives you evaluation criteria for selecting the best option for your organization.
Download now! »
Learn the strategies, actions, and capabilities that Best-in-Class organizations employ and technologies they choose to obtain superior performance against various security performance metrics. This report provides guidelines for identifying which security solutions to consume as a MSS and defines best practices for choosing and managing MSSPs.
Download now! »
Recommend This
