Court Throws Out Microsoft Verdict

While Microsoft was not able to convince an appeals court that Microsoft’s Outlook software and two other products infringed on an Alcatel-Lucent patent, the software giant was able to have its $358 million damages verdict recalculated. The move came after the court ruled that such a verdict was not actually supported by evidence.
 
The case, which mostly focused on Alcatel-Lucent’s claim that Outlook’s calendar function infringed on one of its patents, has seen Microsoft argue that it should only have to pay $6.5 million in damages. According to the appeals court, as well as part of Microsoft’s argument, the calendar function that caused the patent infringement was only a tiny part of a larger program and there was little evidence to support how much revenue it generated for Microsoft.
 
In fact, the court ruled that the “only reasonable conclusion” in the case was that any revenue generated by the calendar function in question would have been insubstantially small. This means that, while Microsoft will still have to face punishment for infringing the patent, the company will not have to pay nearly as much in damages. 

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