Microsoft has filed a lawsuit in a patent fight
involving Lucent Technologies, Gateway and Dell Computer after
being asked to intervene because the products involved use its own
technology.
Lucent filed a claim against Gateway last June, claiming that
some Gateway products incorporating Microsoft technology infringed
Lucent-owned patents. Lucent also targeted Dell with a similar
patent suit last year.
In February Microsoft was ordered to intervene as a defendant
and counterclaimant.
On Tuesday Microsoft filed a lawsuit requesting that the court
declare invalid 13 patents that Lucent claims to hold. The patents
cover audio and video coding as well as position-sensed stylus and
touch-screen form-entry technology.
Microsoft said these patents were "not infringed and are
invalid, and ... some are unenforceable".
Lucent responded a request for a jury trial.
"When we spoke to Microsoft about this, we said that we were
asking for a fair return on our technology," Lucent spokeswoman
Mary Lou Ambrus said. "Since the beginning of Lucent, we have
always tried to maximise the value of our intellectual
property."
Ambrus refused to comment further on the case, saying she would
not speculate on what would happen next in the legal battle.
Microsoft was not immediately able to comment.