Alcatel Sues Microsoft Over Patents
The relationship between Microsoft and Alcatel, who partnered on IPTV last year, has apparently turned sour. The French manufacturer has filed two lawsuits against Microsoft, alleging infringement of 7 patents related to digital video and network communication.
The lawsuits were filed with the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas on Friday, and are asking the court to bar Microsoft from further infringement as well as award cash damages. The complaints do not specify which products are infringing on Alcatel's patents, but do name the technologies.
The first lawsuit claims Microsoft is infringing on USPTO patents 6,339,830 and 6,874,090, each entitled "Deterministic User Authentication Service for Communication Network," and patent 6,661,799, entitled "Method And Apparatus for Facilitating Peer-to-Peer Application Communication."
The second case references patent 5,659,539, "Method and Apparatus for Frame Accurate Access of Digital Audio-Visual Information;" patent 5,864,682, "Method and Apparatus for Frame Accurate Access of Digital Audio-Visual Information;" patent 6,112,226, "Method And Apparatus For Concurrently Encoding And Tagging Digital Information For Allowing Non-Sequential Access During Playback;" and patent 6,823,390, "Method Of Setting Up Data Communication With A Communication Means And Furthermore Program Modules And Means Therefore."
Despite the legal maneuvering, Alcatel claims it is currently in discussions with Microsoft about licensing the technologies, and filed the suits simply "to preserve Alcatel's rights to fair compensation for its intellectual property." It says that it hopes the courts are not necessary to resolve the matter.
Microsoft representatives said they were still reviewing the lawsuits, but noted they appear to stem from previous litigation between the Redmond company and Lucent. Alcatel is in the process of merging with Lucent in a deal valued at $11.8 billion.
Lucent previously sued Microsoft claiming video decoding technology within the Xbox 360 infringes on its patents. It said Microsoft had failed to license the next generation system, and filed suit in April. Microsoft countersued Lucent in May, asserting that the two patents from Lucent are not valid, as well as accusing the communications equipment company of infringing on Microsoft's own patents.
Microsoft had previously succeeded in getting Lucent's original patent thrown out due to typographical errors, requiring the manufacturer to file a revision to the patent specifically stating it involved digital video. It's possible that the merged Lucent-Alcatel hopes the additional patents from Alcatel will give it further leverage in demanding licensing fees and royalties from Microsoft.
Software such as Windows Live Messenger, the Xbox 360, Windows Media Player, and even the company's operating systems themselves could fall under the purview of the Alcatel patents. Ironically, even Microsoft's IPTV Edition software, which it developed with support from Alcatel, could be found to infringe on patent 5,864,682.