A week after Microsoft was ordered to pay $1.5 billion in an Alcatel-Lucent MP3 patent dispute, a federal judge has ruled that it did not violate a patent at the heart of a second trial that was set to begin soon, reports CNET.
The judge dismissed all of Alcatel-Lucent’s claims, which means a jury trial set to begin 19 March will not proceed...Alcatel-Lucent plans to appeal the ruling.
Meanwhile, NYT had a detailed story over the weekend about MP3 patents and the complex dispute surrounding them. The confusion stems from the number of companies and institutions—including Thomson, Royal Philips Electronics and AT&T (through Bell Labs, now part of Alcatel-Lucent)—that worked to create the MP3 standard almost two decades ago.