Microsoft ordered to pay AlcaLu $512 million

Alcatel-Lucent has had a tough week, losing its CEO and chairman, but it may collect close to $512 million after a federal judge last week upheld an earlier jury decision that Microsoft infringed on two of Alcatel-Lucent's software patents.

Microsoft  and AlcaLu have been clashing in court for about five years now over a series of patents related to calendar software programs, music download processes, video encoding and other functions. Microsoft lost one round last year, and initially was ordered to pay $1.5 billion, but that ruling was overturned. In April of this year, a federal jury awarded, the Paris-based telecom vendor about $367 million in damages.

Microsoft appealed that finding, but Judge Marilyn L. Huff denied the appeal, and actually increased the amount of damages due Alcatel-Lucent to $512 million, a sum that now includes prejudgment interest to compensate for how long the legal battle has taken.

But, the legal battle is not over yet. Microsoft plans to appeal the latest ruling.

For more:
- read this report at USA Today