Microsoft Corp, the world's largest software maker, and Dell Inc owe more than US$2.45 billion to Alcatel-Lucent SA for infringing its patented computer technology, a witness for Lucent told jurors.
Microsoft should pay US$1.99 billion for violating four patents with products such as its Windows Media Player, Vista computer operating system and Xbox 360 game console, damages expert Wayne Hoeberlein said yesterday in a trial in federal court in San Diego. Dell should pay US$465.6 million, said Hoeberlein, of UHY Advisors Tax & Business Consultants.
"These are big numbers, but they are based on the sales of millions of systems," Hoeberlein told the panel of eight women and one man.
Alcatel-Lucent, the world's biggest maker of telecommunications equipment, is seeking the biggest patent infringement verdict in US history.
The Paris-based company claims infringement of patents covering the MPEG-2 form of digital video, computer form-entry technology and the use of a stylus on handheld devices. Hoeberlein testified as a damages expert on the company's behalf.
The patent-infringement trial is the second round of cases by Alcatel-Lucent against Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft and Round Rock, Texas-based Dell. In the first trial, held last year, a San Diego jury awarded Alcatel-Lucent US$1.52 billion in a dispute over the MP3 computer audio standard, the highest-ever verdict in a patent trial. A judge later threw out the award.
Microsoft and Dell contend they didn't violate the patents.
"We continue to believe that the patents are invalid and not infringed and that Lucent is not entitled to any damages," Microsoft spokesman Jack Evans said in an e-mail. "We look forward to putting on our case."
Jess Blackburn, a spokesman for Dell, said the company doesn't comment on ongoing litigation.
One of the disputed patents, covering technology used to play DVDs, digital TV and computer games, is owned by a trust that Lucent Technologies Inc formed before it merged with Alcatel SA last year.
Lucent Technologies was launched in 1996 when AT&T spun off its Bell Labs unit. Alcatel-Lucent was created in 2006 through Alcatel SA's acquisition of Lucent.
Microsoft and Dell are pursuing claims that Alcatel-Lucent wrongly set up a trust just before the merger to hold some patents, violating an agreement to share the inventions as part of a patent-licensing pool.
The trial before US District Judge Marilyn Huff is expected to last into next month, with more than 100 potential witnesses listed in court papers. The case is the latest chapter in a six-year dispute that began when Lucent accused Dell in 2002 of using its patented inventions and demanded royalties.
Microsoft was drawn into the case because it may have to reimburse Dell, which uses Microsoft's Windows operating system in the computers it sells. Microsoft countersued, claiming the Lucent patents aren't valid and challenging other patents held by the company as well.
The Gateway unit of Taipei, Taiwan-based Acer Inc was a defendant in the case before settling on Feb. 14. Terms of the accord weren't disclosed. Alcatel-Lucent had sought more than US$300 million in damages from the computer maker.
A proposed 100 percent tariff on chip imports announced by US President Donald Trump could shift more of Taiwan’s semiconductor production overseas, a Taiwan Institute of Economic Research (TIER) researcher said yesterday. Trump’s tariff policy will accelerate the global semiconductor industry’s pace to establish roots in the US, leading to higher supply chain costs and ultimately raising prices of consumer electronics and creating uncertainty for future market demand, Arisa Liu (劉佩真) at the institute’s Taiwan Industry Economics Database said in a telephone interview. Trump’s move signals his intention to "restore the glory of the US semiconductor industry," Liu noted, saying that
On Ireland’s blustery western seaboard, researchers are gleefully flying giant kites — not for fun, but in the hope of generating renewable electricity and sparking a “revolution” in wind energy. “We use a kite to capture the wind and a generator at the bottom of it that captures the power,” said Padraic Doherty of Kitepower, the Dutch firm behind the venture. At its test site in operation since September 2023 near the small town of Bangor Erris, the team transports the vast 60-square-meter kite from a hangar across the lunar-like bogland to a generator. The kite is then attached by a
Foxconn Technology Co (鴻準精密), a metal casing supplier owned by Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密), yesterday announced plans to invest US$1 billion in the US over the next decade as part of its business transformation strategy. The Apple Inc supplier said in a statement that its board approved the investment on Thursday, as part of a transformation strategy focused on precision mold development, smart manufacturing, robotics and advanced automation. The strategy would have a strong emphasis on artificial intelligence (AI), the company added. The company said it aims to build a flexible, intelligent production ecosystem to boost competitiveness and sustainability. Foxconn
STILL UNCLEAR: Several aspects of the policy still need to be clarified, such as whether the exemptions would expand to related products, PwC Taiwan warned The TAIEX surged yesterday, led by gains in Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), after US President Donald Trump announced a sweeping 100 percent tariff on imported semiconductors — while exempting companies operating or building plants in the US, which includes TSMC. The benchmark index jumped 556.41 points, or 2.37 percent, to close at 24,003.77, breaching the 24,000-point level and hitting its highest close this year, Taiwan Stock Exchange (TWSE) data showed. TSMC rose NT$55, or 4.89 percent, to close at a record NT$1,180, as the company is already investing heavily in a multibillion-dollar plant in Arizona that led investors to assume
RSS