Innovation Asset Blog

Innovator: Ruling in Microsoft intellectual property licence case is 'beautiful'

Ric Richardson, the inventor who instigated a seven-year intellectual property lawsuit against software giant Microsoft, recently called the federal court's ruling on the case "beautiful," according to a Wall Street Journal report.

Richardson's praise of the verdict comes despite the fact that the court rejected the $388 award he had sought.

According to the report, Richardson patented a technology that enables software vendors to prevent users from illegally copying their products. The technology works by recording unique features of a computer and using this data to prevent a program from running on any other device.

Last week, a federal court ruled that an earlier jury was correct in finding Microsoft had infringed the patent owned by Richardson's company, Uniloc. Nevertheless, it rejected the first jury's decision about the amount of the award to be paid.

Richardson told the Wall Street Journal "all the discussion is about the claim, the damages amount." In his eyes, however, the fact Microsoft was found guilty of infringing the patent on his intellectual assets is much more important. "I think that's fantastic," Richardson said.

The U.S. Supreme Court recently agreed to hear another case involving Microsoft. In that case, the company is being sued by software development firm i4i over a $290 million patent infringement judgment.

Peter Ackerman

Peter Ackerman

Founder & CEO, Innovation Asset Group, Inc.