Alcatel-Lucent patent in $358 million suit rejected

An Alcatel-Lucent SA patent that resulted in a $358 million jury verdict against Microsoft Corp. was rejected by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office after the agency took a second look at the invention.

The patent covers a touch-screen technology for entering information on forms. It was the subject of a trial last year in which Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, was told to pay another $10.4 million over a second Alcatel-Lucent patent. The total jury award has swelled with interest to more than $511 million.

The elements of the patent that were used against Microsoft were an obvious variation of know-how that was public in books about touch screens, an agency examiner said in a March 26 notice. Paris-based Alcatel-Lucent can appeal the decision, and the patent remains in force during that process.

Microsoft, based in Redmond, Washington, argued unsuccessfully to a jury that the patent is invalid, and the verdict is on appeal. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which specializes in patent law, hasn't set a date for arguments in the appeal.

The April 2008 decision is the sixth-biggest patent jury verdict in U.S. history, according to Bloomberg data. Three bigger verdicts are against Microsoft, including a $1.52 billion decision won by Alcatel-Lucent that was later thrown out and a $388 million verdict last week in favor of a Singapore company over anti-piracy technology.

The case is Lucent Technologies Inc. v. Gateway Inc., 07CV2000, U.S. District Court, Southern District of California (San Diego).