U.S. Judge Upholds Alcatel Award in Microsoft Case

SEATTLE (Reuters) – A U.S. judge upheld a jury’s ruling for $368 million in damages against Microsoft Corp (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz) for violating patents held by Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research, Stock Buzz).

U.S. District Judge Marilyn Huff said in a Thursday ruling thatMicrosoft owes Alcatel-Lucent a total of $512 million, which includesinterest on the original award.

After a jury ruled for Alcatel-Lucent in April, Microsoft sought tohave the ruling overturned. Last year, Microsoft was successful inhaving thrown out a separate $1.5 billion damages ruling over audiotechnology patents claimed by Alcatel.

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

A Microsoft spokesman said the company said it plans to appeal thedecision and is confident that the damages award will not be sustainedon appeal.

The software maker joined Dell and Gateway to fight the suit overtechnology used in Microsoft software licensed by those computermanufacturers. Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent are locked in severalpatent disputes, including a suit over video-decoding technology inMicrosoft’s Xbox game console.

Microsoft said the two patents it was found to have infringed uponrelated to technology that allows users to enter dates into calendarsand another used in tablet computers to recognize patterns inhandwriting.

(Reporting by Daisuke Wakabayashi; editing by Carol Bishopric)