Skip to main content

Microsoft settles in whiteboard patent dustup

News: : "Microsoft agreed to pay $60 million and to license a plaintiff's whiteboard technology following a somewhat stiffer but not yet finalized jury verdict against the software giant.

The settlement, announced by SPX and its Imagexpo unit Wednesday, gives Microsoft the right to use technology covered under patent #5,206,934, 'Method and apparatus for interactive computer conferencing.'

A U.S. district court jury in Richmond, Va., on Nov. 14 had awarded SPX $62.5 million in damages after finding that Microsoft had violated the patent with its NetMeeting software. Since the court had yet to dispense with final motions in the case, the software giant still had a window of opportunity to settle the case under more favorable terms.

Microsoft has spent much of the year on the patent defensive, though the SPX verdict pales in comparison to its patent nemesis, the University of California and Eolas patent covering browser plug-in technology.

'This settlement is another step in Microsoft's efforts to resolve legal conflicts, to focus on the future, and to continue building great software,' company representative Stacy Drake said Friday.

Microsoft has until Tuesday to pay the $60 million, which SPX said would be reduced by expenses associated with the lawsuit."

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Artist turns animals into everyday objects

Ananova - A Chilean artist is making a name for herself with an exhibition in which stuffed animals are transformed into household objects. Artworks on display include a chick turned into a lamp, and 'sheep bag' - a lamb carcass fitted with handles. Artist Caterina Purdy says her exhibition at the Experimental Arts Centre in Santiago is intended to be humorous but also makes a serious point. She told Las Ultimas Noticias online: 'It is possible to see my work as something scary, but I find it beautiful. 'There is also irony and humour in my objects as well as a criticism of the way animals are treated by society.'"

Josh Nimoy @ ITP - BallDroppings

Josh Nimoy @ ITP - BallDroppings : "BallDroppings is an addicting and noisy play-toy. It can also be seen as an emergence game. My brother Marc takes this software seriously as an audio-visual performance instrument. Balls fall from the top of the screen and bounce off the lines you are drawing with the mouse. The balls make a percussive and melodic sound, whose pitch depends on how fast the ball is moving when it hits the line."

W Ketchup™

W Ketchup™ : "You don’t support Democrats. Why should your ketchup? W Ketchup™ is made in America, from ingredients grown in the USA. In side-by-side taste tests of five leading brands, we found that W Ketchup is second to none. You'll never go back to Heinz again! W Ketchup is America’s Ketchup™"