Microsoft sues Lucent over patent dispute

By Alun Williams

Posted on 11 Apr 2003 at 16:20

A complex legal case involving Lucent Technologies suing Dell and Gateway has just got more complicated. Microsoft has entered the legal fray to file a lawsuit regarding the patents central to the case.

The patents relate to audio and video coding technologies and a touch-screen document editing system. Lucent believes that its patents were acquired from work at the legendary Bell Labs research and development facilities. Microsoft now disputes this.

Microsoft filed the lawsuit on Tuesday in a federal court in San Diego, California.

The Wall Street Journal has reported that Dell and Gateway requested Microsoft enter the case to indemnify them. It quotes Microsoft spokesman Jim Desler as saying, 'We believe that there has been no infringement and Lucent's claims are unfounded'. Desler asserted that Microsoft moved to protect the two PC builders and 'to get some clarity from the courts to prevent Lucent from continued threats on this matter.'

With Dell and Gateway being key system suppliers of Windows-based PCs, Microsoft was will be keen to protect a threat to its interests. Reuters reports that an intellectual property licensing firm, ThinkFire, acting as a representative of Lucent, tried to initiate talks with Microsoft back in January. The intention was for Redmond to have licensed use of the 16 patents involved.

At time of writing, no comment was available from Microsoft.