Judge penalizes Microsoft $25 million in patent case
InfoWorld | at | by Mike
Microsoft's quest for a new trial in a patent-infringement case it lost has resulted in a bigger fine for the software company.
A judge in a U.S. District Court in Eastern Texas Friday slapped an additional US$25 million in "enhanced damages" on Microsoft for "litigation misconduct" in a patent case z4 Technologies Inc. brought against the software vendor and Autodesk Inc. in September 2004.
In his ruling, U.S. District Judge Leonard Davis said that Microsoft tried to have z4's patents declared unenforceable even as it continued to willfully infringe on those patents and withheld evidence of its actions. He ruled that this misconduct merits adding to the amount of damages Microsoft must pay z4 in the case.