Microsoft Infringed Patents – In The Name Of Anti-Piracy!

The jury applied the $388 million back to October 2003, around the time of the case’s filing. Microsoft can ask the court to dismiss the verdict, and there is an option to appeal. But none of that avoids the irony of Microsoft being found guilty of stealing, so to speak, technology meant to prevent people from stealing its software.

“We are very disappointed in the jury verdict,” Microsoft spokesperson David Bowermaster said in an e-mailed statement. “We believe that we do not infringe, that the patent is invalid and that this award of damages is legally and factually unsupported. We will ask the court to overturn the verdict.”

And a slap in Germany

It has not been a good day for Microsoft. There was another adverse legal ruling and fine. Earlier, Bundeskartellamt, Germany’s Federal Office, revealed that it had fined Microsoft 9 million euros (about $12 million) for, according to a press release, influencing “the resale price of the software package ‘Office Home & Student 2007’ in an anticompetitive manner.” More:

The product in question was heavily advertised in the autumn of 2008 in stationary retail outlets. Amongst others, a nationwide active retailer advertised the product with financial support from Microsoft. Even before the launch of the advertising campaign in mid-October 2008, employees of Microsoft and the retailer in question had agreed on at least two occasions on the resale price of the software package Office Home & Student 2007.

Not every contact between supplier and retailer regarding resale prices constitutes an illegal concerted practice within the meaning of Section 1 ARC. However, this must not lead to a form of coordination where the supplier actively tries to coordinate the pricing activities of the retailer and thus retailer and supplier agree on future actions of the retailer. In the present case, this boundary has been crossed. Microsoft has accepted the fine.

I don’t have any legal expertise when it comes to German law. But, as described above, that doesn’t sound like a violation had Microsoft done something similar here in the United States.

After I posted, Microsoft responded to my request for comment. “We respect German competition law and are committed to running our business in full compliance with all German laws and regulations,” said a spokesperson. “We will use this case as an opportunity to review our internal commercial processes and ensure that we are in full compliance with German law.”

This article appeared in Joe Wilcox’ eWEEK blog, Microsoft Watch.