According to a recent Reuters (News - Alert) report, a U.S. judge has sustained a jury’s ruling against Microsoft Corporation for violating patents held by Alcatel-Lucent. In April, a jury had decreed that Microsoft pay Alcatel-Lucent (News - Alert), $368 million in damages for patent infringement. Microsoft had appealed against the jury’s decision.

 

On Thursday, U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff declared that Microsoft (News - Alert) is liable to pay Alcatel-Lucent a total of $512 million, including interest on the original award.

 

In a separate case against Alcatel, Microsoft had been able to overturn an award for $1.5 billion damages over violation of audio technology patents.

 

"We had always believed we had a strong case and are pleased that the judge agreed that the jury's thoughtful verdict was well reasoned and supported by the evidence," Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman Mary Ward said in a statement.

 

According to a Microsoft spokesman, the company plans to again appeal the decision and hopes that it will not be upheld, the report said.

 

The patents in question are for technologies used in Microsoft software licensed by Dell and Gateway (News - Alert). One of the technologies enables users to enter dates into calendars and the other is used in tablet computers for recognizing patterns in handwriting.

 

The software giant had joined forces with the two computer manufacturers to fight the suit against Alcatel-Lucent. Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent have locked horns over several patent violation cases, including a suit over video-decoding technology that powers Microsoft's Xbox game console.

 

Catering to service providers, enterprises and governments, Alcatel-Lucent delivers end-to-end fixed, mobile and converged broadband access, carrier and enterprise IP technologies, applications, and services. The company is organized into three business groups: The Carrier Business Group, the Enterprise Business Group and the Services Business Group. It has 77,000 employees and operations in over 30 countries.