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Microsoft Caught in Patent Infringement Again
A federal jury in California has ordered Microsoft to pay $9 million to the Guatemalan inventor who had sued the software giant for infringing his software patent.
Carlos Amado developed the software, which links Microsoft's Excel spreadsheet and Access database programs, in 1990 as a student and offered to sell it to Microsoft in 1992, but the company declined. Amado received the patent in 1994 and in 1995 Microsoft added to its new Office version an application that mimicked his software. Amado filed suit in 2003 claiming a total of $500 million in damages on ten counts.
The jury dismissed nine of the ten claims, but upheld one and awarded $8.9 million for the period between March 1997 and July 2003, calculated using a formula that included Microsoft's sales. The District Judge will decide on the level of damages following that period. Amado's counsel has also suggested that his client will ask the court to make Microsoft remove or disable the software that links Excel and Access.
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