The Supreme Court will intervene in a patent dispute between Microsoft Corp. and AT&T Corp. over Windows programs distributed overseas that contain AT&T "speech codecs". An appeals court had already ruled that Microsoft had infringed on an AT&T patent and Microsoft has already admitted liability for domestic sales of Windows.
The Supreme Court will hear whether or not Microsoft will be liable for international sales. A judgment in AT&T's favour could cost Microsoft up to $1 billion U.S. dollars.
The crux of the case comes down to whether or not the courts of the United States have the jurisdiction to extend U.S. patent protections to overseas transactions. Some worry that such a ruling could drive software development out of the country.
Needless to say, AT&T has another opinion: "Congress's congressional authority is to protect the rights of U.S. inventors, not U.S. infringers."
Chief Justice John Roberts took no part in the court's decision to hear the case. The court offered no explanation, but Roberts' most recent financial disclosure shows that he owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in Microsoft stock.
News source: The Toronto Star
The Supreme Court will hear whether or not Microsoft will be liable for international sales. A judgment in AT&T's favour could cost Microsoft up to $1 billion U.S. dollars.
The crux of the case comes down to whether or not the courts of the United States have the jurisdiction to extend U.S. patent protections to overseas transactions. Some worry that such a ruling could drive software development out of the country.
Needless to say, AT&T has another opinion: "Congress's congressional authority is to protect the rights of U.S. inventors, not U.S. infringers."
Chief Justice John Roberts took no part in the court's decision to hear the case. The court offered no explanation, but Roberts' most recent financial disclosure shows that he owns between $100,000 and $250,000 in Microsoft stock.
News source: The Toronto Star
If that were the case they would either have to recuse themselves from the decision or divest their stocks. That's why Roberts didn't take part in the decision.
haha yeah, Austin Powers was a great movie.
Hopefully I'm not breaking any intellectual properly laws by saving that.
sort of ridiculous, isn't it?
i sue you for using the saviors name in vain and in a seprate but related case i sue you for defamation of 300million ppl including but not limited to me.
ill take an out of court settlement. 3 billion dollars usd.
i sue you for using the saviors name in vain and in a seprate but related case i sue you for defamation of 300million ppl including but not limited to me.
ill take an out of court settlement. 3 billion dollars usd.
Well I'm gonna counter-sue you and get 6 millions in emotionnal compensation.
First they pioneered taking BSD license code and using that while all the while badmouthing the open source model, then they went with buying out small technology companies (Giant software anyone? Vermeer technologies?) and using their marketing power to turn those little gems into a tidy profit, and now it's steal whatever you want and pay a fraction of your profits if you get caught!
Microsoft -- redefining ethics for the 21st century!
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