Microsoft to pay SPX $60M in patent suit

The dispute centered on conferencing software Whiteboard feature

By Robert McMillan, IDG News Service

December 26, 2003 12:00 PM ET

Recommended

IDG News Service - Microsoft Corp. will pay $60 million for violating a patent held by a division of SPX Corp., a Charlotte, N.C.-based manufacturing and technology company, SPX said in a statement released on Wednesday.
On Nov. 14, a jury awarded SPX's Imagexpo LLC subsidiary $62.3 million in damages after finding that Microsoft had willfully infringed a technology patent held by Imagexpo.
Microsoft infringed on the patent with the Whiteboard feature of its NetMeeting conferencing software, SPX said.
After the November ruling, it was unclear whether Microsoft, which denied any patent infringement had occurred, would appeal the jury's decision, but Wednesday's settlement resolves the matter, said Stacy Drake, a Microsoft spokeswoman.
As part of the settlement, Microsoft has now licensed the Imagexpo technology, Drake said.
What the software giant plans to do with the licenses is unclear, however. Microsoft has now retired NetMeeting, and Drake couldn't say whether the Imagexpo technology would be used in Microsoft's current conferencing offering, Office Live Meeting, which was formerly known as PlaceWare.
Microsoft will pay the $60 million by Dec. 30, SBX said.
SBX couldn't be reached for comment.

Reprinted with permission from

IDG.net
Story copyright 2009 International Data Group. All rights reserved.

Recommend Digg Twitter ShareThis

Email Print Send Feedback Reprints

Jump to comments

Legislation/Regulation

Additional Resources

Xerox

Win a color printer!

By using solid ink technology only from Xerox, you could save up to 65% by printing color for the cost of black and white. Enter for a chance to WIN a PhaserTM 8860 network color printer!

Microsoft

Upgrade to Internet Explorer 8 today.

Save time and mitigate security risk. Deploy it now.

Sybase

NEXT-GENERATION MOBILITY PLATFORMS

In this white paper, IDC analyzes the role of next-generation mobile enterprise platforms as organizations seek a more strategic deployment of mobile solutions.

Learn the important issues you must consider before starting your next mobility initiative. Get your mobility white paper from IDC now, compliments of Sybase.