Microsoft is one of the worst Copyright Infringers in the world, the amount of lawsuits they face is ridiculous.

They are just playing cat and mouse game, and thinking that cat will not catch them. They have money, they will pay it without problems.

i think its a bad time for microsoft!
i think the money they wasted on such things could be utilised to develop more good os and software's!
microsoft - what has gone wrong with you?

The patent process is indeed a mess, for a variety of reasons. Realistically, patents need to be a bit more difficult to get, and actually be verified as valid. These days, blankets of patents are thrown into the system and approved, and many of them are easily invalidated by prior art or existing applications - the problem is, someone has to challenge the patent and prove it in court, which is where all the lawsuits come from. Honestly, the "valid until challenged" mentality is what encourages lawsuits, and makes lawyers a fortune.

There also needs to be revision in the punishment side. Infringing companies who are caught with their hand in the cookie jar regularly just get what is effectively a mild slap on the wrist. Even guilty companies can throw up walls of paper and lawyers that are so thick that it takes too long to reach a conclusion, or the victim whose property was stolen just gives up. Patent punishments and proceedings actually protect the guilty more than they do the ones being infringed upon, which makes it almost an afterthought for corporations... "Another lawsuit? Ah well, so what, carry on." There needs to be a serious ramping up of reparations and penalties, so that guilty parties don't just feel a sting, they get an arm ripped off. Set a few precedents where big bully companies get knocked into the dirt and have their business jeopardized, and people will start to think about consequences... Of course, that will ONLY work if the patent process itself is made more thorough (as I said above) to discourage opportunistic "patent net casting" techniques that are common today.

i really dont beleive they knowingly, and willingly copied someones else product. This is microsoft, probably around before either of these two companies. They lose these cases because of who, and what they are. SOmething like athletes, and famous entertainers....

Have seen alot of this lately, everyone sues everyone its just crazy

Another patent!!?! Come on M$ I really don't care anymore Microsoft needs to get its act up its one after the other. The i4i, now VirnetX! Who's next? In my last comment in the previous related article I said something about them losing or gaining profit from selling Office..etc now I think they're just all of it. But they'll survive they got money but how much more do they have for all this? I wonder if the the patents are invalid :/ good luck M$

Wonder what they do besides infringing. They should have enough dough to cover it from Win7 being fastest OS seller and all.

Not that Microsoft deserves it, but they need to realize that they do not need to be the king of technology. There are great entrepreneurs out there that Microsoft is stealing from. I think personally, they should start creating their own stuff and own variations, so they do not end in messes such as this.

Let's assume I agree that M$ is the evil empire. However, I sometimes wonder if their software engineers propagate the theft, by passing off the work of others more clever than themselves, as their own. It is possible that some of this could happen without corporate knowledge. I suppose that it's also possible for two people to "write the same song", as it were. Not likely, but possible.

Then again, it's also possible that from time to time, a few M$ suits head into a conference room ,light up some cigars, and put their minds into how they could steal something they want without being caught.

With all the crap patents out there, I don't think that you can write any code without infringing on someone else's design these days. I don't think the patent office actually patents a song, based on lyrics. But instead patents what is expressed in the song. And now you don't have to prove that Microsoft used your lyrics, only that it wrote a song about trains, momma, and the pick-up truck. And if you got there first, you win.

This is a great analogy!

I am pretty curious how they determine damages on cases like this? Is it based on the percentage of code that was based on the patent vs the total amount of code times the amount of sales? $100 million is a lot of money, but really not that significant for MS.