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U.S. Supreme Court Seeks Opinion of Justice Department in Microsoft Appeal
The United States Supreme Court has asked the Justice Department to submit its opinion on whether the court should grant a petition by Microsoft to review a Federal Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that held that AT&T could seek royalties based on the foreign manufacture and sale of an infringing software product. The ruling last year upheld a lower court decision that Microsoft was liable for infringing on an AT&T patent for converting speech into computer code that was used in copies of Windows sold overseas.
Microsoft challenges that the decision creates inappropriate extra-territorial powers in U.S. patent law by extending it to software installed on computers outside the United States. AT&T has taken the position that any copies of the master software disc, which is based in the U.S., should be treated as infringing and thus, all computers that run Windows are infringing, whether located inside or outside the United States.
The Solicitor General is not expected to respond to the request for several months, pushing the decision into the next U.S. Supreme Court Term starting in October.
For a copy of the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals decision, visit:
http://www.fedcir.gov/opinions/04-1285.pdf
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