Microsoft Loses $388 Million Patent Suit

One of the longer-running patent cases against Microsoft was resolved yesterday, and not in the computing giant's favor.

Microsoft faced allegations from Uniloc that Uniloc's patented technology has been used as part of Microsoft's software activation service, and a federal jury in Rhode Island found that, indeed, Windows XP, Office XP and Windows Server 2003 all infringed upon the Uniloc patent in question.

Microsoft will appeal the decision that granted Uniloc $388 million in fines:

"We are very disappointed in the jury verdict," Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said in an e-mail. "We believe that we do not infringe, that the patent is invalid and that this award of damages is legally and factually unsupported. We will ask the court to overturn the verdict."

Microsoft slapped with $388 million patent verdict [CNet]