Alcatel-Lucent SA is demanding billions of dollars from technology that Microsoft Corp invented, a lawyer for the software company told jurors in California on Friday.
The jury of seven women and one man began deliberations on Friday afternoon in US District Court in San Diego, California, to determine whether Microsoft and Dell Inc should have to pay US$1.75 billion to Alcatel-Lucent, which claims four of its patents were infringed.
The patents were owned by Lucent Technologies Inc, which Alcatel SA acquired in 2006. Lucent sued in 2002 claiming infringement of patents for computer-video coding used in digital television, DVDs and video games, a method for entering data on computer forms, and the use of a stylus.
"Lucent is asking for billions of dollars in this case based on our technology," Microsoft lawyer Juanita Brooks said in her summation. "They want our success to turn into their success, and it's not right."
Closing arguments started on Thursday before US District Judge Marilyn Huff. The jury will resume deliberations today.
Alcatel-Lucent, the world's largest supplier of telecommunications equipment, is seeking about US$1.29 billion from Microsoft, US$340.6 million from Dell, and another US$125 million that would be split by the two companies. The trial began on Feb. 20.
The companies should be responsible for infringing products they didn't directly profit from, Alcatel-Lucent claims.
"Microsoft takes our invention, gives them away for free and says they don't owe us anything," John Desmarais, a lawyer for Alcatel-Lucent, told the jury in rebuttal arguments on Friday.
Huff instructed the jury of the law, and began the day by dismissing a ninth juror who was ill.
Dell claims Alcatel-Lucent waited too long to sue and didn't file proper notices of infringement. Dell is also seeking US$32 million from Alcatel-Lucent in a counterclaim.
Lucent initially sued computer makers Dell and Gateway Inc. Microsoft then sued Lucent, concerned that it might have to reimburse Dell in the case because the dispute relates to features within the Microsoft Windows operating system installed on Dell PCs.
Microsoft also filed counterclaims that the Lucent patents aren't valid and challenging other patents held by the company. Gateway, now owned by Taipei-based Acer Inc, settled with Alcatel-Lucent in February.
The trial is the second stemming from a package of claims and counterclaims that US District Judge Rudi Brewster in San Diego split into five separate cases based on types of technology.
In February last year, a San Diego jury ruled in the first case to come to trial that Microsoft's Windows Media Player infringed Lucent patents related to the MP3 digital-audio standard and awarded Alcatel-Lucent a then-record US$1.52 billion in damages.
Brewster threw out the verdict in August, finding that one of the two patents wasn't infringed and that Microsoft had a valid license for the second one. Alcatel-Lucent is appealing.
The current jury must also decide on Microsoft's contention that Alcatel-Lucent wrongly set up a trust just before the Lucent merger to hold some patents, violating an agreement to share the inventions as part of a licensing pool.
Alcatel-Lucent's American depositary receipts, each representing one ordinary share, rose US$0.03 to US$5.64 on Friday in New York Stock Exchange composite trading. Microsoft fell US$0.14 to US$27.91 in NASDAQ Stock Market trading. Dell rose US$0.14 to US$19.61.
One of two tropical depressions that formed off Taiwan yesterday morning could turn into a moderate typhoon by the weekend, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said yesterday. Tropical Depression No. 21 formed at 8am about 1,850km off the southeast coast, CWA forecaster Lee Meng-hsuan (李孟軒) said. The weather system is expected to move northwest as it builds momentum, possibly intensifying this weekend into a typhoon, which would be called Mitag, Lee said. The radius of the storm is expected to reach almost 200km, she said. It is forecast to approach the southeast of Taiwan on Monday next week and pass through the Bashi Channel
WARNING: People in coastal areas need to beware of heavy swells and strong winds, and those in mountainous areas should brace for heavy rain, the CWA said The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday issued sea and land warnings for Typhoon Ragasa, forecasting that it would continue to intensify and affect the nation the most today and tomorrow. People in Hualien and Taitung counties, and mountainous areas in Yilan and Pingtung counties, should brace for damage caused by extremely heavy rain brought by the typhoon’s outer rim, as it was upgraded to a super typhoon yesterday morning, the CWA said. As of 5:30pm yesterday, the storm’s center was about 630km southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip, moving northwest at 21kph, and its maximum wind speed had reached
The Central Weather Administration (CWA) yesterday said that it expected to issue a sea warning for Typhoon Ragasa this morning and a land warning at night as it approached Taiwan. Ragasa intensified from a tropical storm into a typhoon at 8am yesterday, the CWA said, adding that at 2pm, it was about 1,110km east-southeast of Oluanpi (鵝鑾鼻), Taiwan’s southernmost tip. The typhoon was moving northwest at 13kph, with sustained winds of up to 119kph and gusts reaching 155kph, the CWA Web site showed. Forecaster Liu Pei-teng (劉沛滕) said that Ragasa was projected to strengthen as it neared the Bashi Channel, with its 200km
PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENTS: Hualien and Taitung counties declared today a typhoon day, while schools and offices in parts of Kaohsiung and Pingtung counties are also to close Typhoon Ragasa was forecast to hit its peak strength and come closest to Taiwan from yesterday afternoon through today, the Central Weather Administration (CWA) said. Taiwan proper could be out of the typhoon’s radius by midday and the sea warning might be lifted tonight, it added. CWA senior weather specialist Wu Wan-hua (伍婉華) said that Ragasa’s radius had reached the Hengchun Peninsula by 11am yesterday and was expected to hit Taitung County and Kaohsiung by yesterday evening. Ragasa was forecast to move to Taiwan’s southern offshore areas last night and to its southwestern offshore areas early today, she added. As of 8pm last night,
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