Alcatel Pwned: Jury Rules 360 Doesn’t Violate Software Patents

Xbox 360 owners can rest a little easier now that their consoles aren’t illegal. A federal jury has thrown out the third of five lawsuits in an ongoing legal battle between Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent SA, and found that Microsoft did not violate Alcatel-Lucent’s patent on video coding. This includes patents for MPEG-2 technology, which is the key to digital TV broadcasts and DVD recording.
Alcatel had been seeking up to $419 million for its claims and Microsoft was counter-suing that Alcatel violated its own patents and sought $11.5 million. The federal jury threw out Alcatel’s lawsuit, and also ruled against Microsoft’s counter claims. So nobody got anything, and everybody got nothing.

The two companies have been exchanging lawsuits over patents and school yard insults since 2003, each alleging that the other violated patents in a legal version of he said, she said. The patent dispute involves current and widely used technologies like MP3s, MPEG video, and speech and video coding technology the Xbox 360 uses. And you thought your Xbox 360 was hot before? Question: Who do we take to court over the blue screen of death? Anyone? Takers? No?
“This case demonstrates Microsoft’s commitment to protect its customers, its partners, as well as the company’s intellectual property,” said Tom Burt, Microsoft’s vice president and deputy general counsel.
Not to mention their wallets, their jobs, and their asses.

With this verdict, 13 out of the 15 original patent claims have been dismissed or withdrawn, and the legal battle between the two sluggishly continues.
What does this mean for Xbox 360 owners?

-Large, ominous men will not come to your home to take and/or smash your Xbox.
-Bill Gates will keep making money (shock).
-You can still spend way too much money on games (who needs to eat?).
-Your headset is no longer being tapped by Alcatel (but they’d still like to wash your mouth out with soap).