Court finds Microsoft infringed AT&T patent

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled that Microsoft infringed an AT&T patent for speech-coding technology in its distribution of a master version of the Windows operating system outside the U.S. The ruling concludes a 2001 lawsuit between the two companies.

IDG News Service reports that Microsoft agreed to an undisclosed settlement with AT&T in March 2004 in the case, but as part of that agreement the software maker was given the right to appeal liability for patent infringement. The District Court ruled that software copies made from a master version, sent from the U.S., are not shielded from patent law, which prohibits circumvention of infringement by exportation of products.

Read the complete story . (Network World)