Alcatel-Lucent appeal fails in dispute over MP3 patents

Microsoft is celebrating victory at the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in its dispute with Alcatel-Lucent over two MP3 patents. According to US media sources, the company will not have to pay its rival the $1.53 billion in compensation demanded. The appeal court upheld the August 2007 District Court decision, which overturned the decision of the jury in the original trial in February 2007. Alcatel-Lucent had filed an objection to this verdict.

The dispute centres on two patents for MP3 technology for compressing digital music, US patent number 5,341,457, known as the 457 patent, and reissue patent RE 39,080, known as the 080 patent, based on US patent number 5,627,938. The appeal court has now upheld the lower court’s verdict that Microsoft did not infringe the 457 patent and that Alcatel-Lucent does not have the rights to the 080 patent required to be able to sue Microsoft. According to a report from Bloomberg, Alcatel-Lucent is yet to decide on whether it will appeal this latest verdict.

(jbe)