ARTICLE · 13 SEPTEMBER 2011

Microsoft to pay Alcatel $70m in "Day Patent" Ruling

Spoor & Fisher

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A federal court ruled on Friday 29 July 2011 that Microsoft must pay French based telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent $70m in a patent infringement claim.

South AfricaIntellectual Property

Herman Van Schalkwyk

A federal court ruled on Friday 29 July 2011 that Microsoft must pay French based telecommunications giant Alcatel-Lucent $70m in a patent infringement claim. The well nicknamed "Day patent" covers the method of entering a date into a data field without using a keyboard. The patented method covers for example the date picker function which is used in Microsoft Outlook.

In an earlier trial it was found that Microsoft's Outlook, Windows Mobile and Microsoft Money had been infringing the "Day patent" and as a result Microsoft was ordered to pay a total of $358m in damages. The total amount in damages soon thereafter exceeded $500m due to interest. An appeals court subsequently overturned the initial damages award on a lack of evidential support in the damages calculation. While upholding the initial infringement ruling the case was sent back to trial on damages only.

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