Microsoft Must Pay Alcatel $70 Million in Patent Damages, U.S. Jury Says

"Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) must pay $70 million for infringing an Alcatel-Lucent patent used in versions of Microsoft’s Outlook program and two other applications, a federal jury in San Diego said today.

Alcatel-Lucent, France’s largest maker of telecommunications equipment, asked for as much as $75 million in damages. Microsoft’s lawyers asked jurors to limit the award to $5 million.

'Alcatel-Lucent is obviously pleased with the verdict and the jury’s recognition in the value of the Day patent that Microsoft infringed,' Luke Dauchot, a lawyer for Alcatel-Lucent, said after the verdict."

This article appeared in its entirety in the July 29, 2011 edition of Bloomberg News.