Top Story USA
01 March 2007
Microsoft to pay $1.5B to Alcatel in
damages
Microsoft must pay French telecommunications equipment maker
Alcatel-Lucent $1.52bn after the San Diego court ruled the Redmond,
Wash.-based IT giant had infringed audio patents.
Microsoft said the patents in question govern the conversion
of audio into the digital MP3 file format on personal computers.
In 2003, Lucent Technologies Inc., which was acquired by Alcatel
in November, had sued Microsoft, saying two patents related
to the standards used for converting audio into MP3 files had
been breached.
Microsoft may appeal against the court’s decision. "We
think this verdict is completely unsupported by the law or the
facts," said Tom Burt, a Microsoft deputy general counsel.
Alcatel said it was pleased with the federal court's decision.
"We made strong arguments supporting our view, "
said an Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman.
Microsoft said it had already licensed the MP3 technology,
paying $16m to Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, a German company.
S Korea to Get Full Troop Control in
2012
The US and South Korea have reached a deal to hand full control
of South Korea's military back to Seoul by 2012.
N. Korea nuclear envoy to visit U.S.
North Korea's chief nuclear negotiator plans to visit the United
States within days for follow-up talks on a recent disarmament
deal.
Wife sentenced for killing husband
A suburban woman who fatally stabbed her millionaire psychotherapist
husband at their Orinda home in 2002 was sentenced to 16 years
to life in prison for murder.
|