Microsoft Ordered to Pay $200 Million in Patent Case

onehandle

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Thu May-21-09 01:56 PM
Original message

Microsoft Ordered to Pay $200 Million in Patent Case

Source: Fox News

LOS ANGELES � Microsoft Corp said on Wednesday a Texas federal jury ordered the company to pay Canadian software firm i4i Ltd $200 million in damages for infringing a patent.

The world's largest software company, which is involved in a number of legal battles over patents, said the award was unsupported, and plans to appeal.

Last month, Microsoft was ordered to pay $388 million in damages for infringing a patent held by anti-piracy software maker Uniloc Inc. It also appealing that verdict.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,520952,00.html

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Commie Pinko Dirtbag

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Thu May-21-09 02:04 PM
Response to Original message

1. I don't care that it's Microsoft getting the shaft. (An otherwise joyful event.)

Software patents are still a bad idea. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Software_patent_debate#Arguments_against_patentability

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Soylent Brice

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Thu May-21-09 02:12 PM
Response to Reply #1

3. yes they are.

and agree with your statement.

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Commie Pinko Dirtbag

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Thu May-21-09 02:37 PM
Response to Reply #3

6. And here's another link about the subject:

http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/projects/lpf/Patents/against-software-patents.html

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Soylent Brice

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Fri May-22-09 07:09 AM
Response to Reply #6

9. bootleg:

"For example, Apple was sued because the Hypercard program allegedly violates patent number 4,736,308, a patent that covers displaying portions of two or more strings together on the screen--effectively, scrolling with multiple subwindows. Scrolling and subwindows are well-known techniques, but combining them is now apparently illegal."

wow.

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Amonester

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Thu May-21-09 02:06 PM
Response to Original message

2. Woohoo... the lazy and worst coders will pay for what they stole...

It's not like they didn't steal enough to pay what Justice tell them to pay...

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dipsydoodle

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Thu May-21-09 02:34 PM
Response to Reply #2

5. The issue is usually

the money they've made to date through such practices far exceeding the penalties for doing do.

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Dumak

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Thu May-21-09 02:25 PM
Response to Original message

4. It's pretty shocking, the kinds of things that have been granted patents

You can't even create a basic lookup-table without finding that it's been patented. I don't particularly sympathize with Microsoft, as they've been engaged in some pretty devious marketing practices over the years, but way too many software patents apply to such obvious processes - things so obvious that it wouldn't even occur to most people that they might be patentable.

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eppur_se_muova

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Thu May-21-09 03:02 PM
Response to Original message

7. "i4i"? That's a warning right there. nt

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jsamuel

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Thu May-21-09 04:24 PM
Response to Original message

8. "ordered to pay $388 million in damages for infringing a patent held by anti-piracy software maker"

irony?

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Fri May 03rd 2024, 08:49 AM
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