“An Australian inventor is set to reap the lion’s share of a $US388 million ($537 million) damages award from Microsoft after a US jury found the software giant stole his technology,” Asher Moses reports for The Age.
“Ric Richardson, who divides his time between Sydney and California, is the founder of Uniloc, which sued Microsoft in 2003 for violating its patent relating to technology designed to deter software piracy,” Moses reports.
“Last week, a jury in Rhode Island found Microsoft violated the patent and told Microsoft to pay the company $US388 million, the fifth-largest patent jury award in US history, according to data compiled by Bloomberg,” Moses reports.
“Four of the six largest patent verdicts have been against Microsoft, but the Uniloc damages fee only amounts to about eight days of profit for the company,” Moses reports.
MacDailyNews Take: Another slap on the wrist for a serial offender.
Moses continues, “Richardson showed a copy of his software to Microsoft in 1993 but Microsoft did not license it, instead developing its own almost identical version and incorporating it into its products from 1997 or 1998.”
“The jurors have already found that Microsoft wilfully and intentionally infringed Uniloc’s patent, but the company is awaiting a final decision by the judge, who, Bloomberg reports, could increase the award three-fold,” Moses reports.
Full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: Bill Gates must have been that kid who always copied over the other students’ shoulders; the whole company seems to be modeled on the practice.
