Microsoft wins patent lawsuit over boot-up technology

A U.S. District Court jury in Texas has ruled that Microsoft did not infringe on patents claimed by Computer Acceleration Corp., a subsidiary of patent warehousing firm Acacia Research Corp.

Excerpt from Network World:

The suit, filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, charged Microsoft with infringing on U.S. patent 5,933,630, which was issued in 1999 to Acceleration Software International Corp. The suit asked the court to award the patent holder US$2.50 per copy of Windows XP sold in the U.S. By Microsoft’s account, that could have amounted to $600 million to $900 million.

Microsoft argued that there are many ways to improve the boot speed of PCs and that XP uses different technology than that in the patent.

Additional reading:

• Acacia loses patent case vs. Microsoft (CNNMoney)
• Court rules against Acacia in Microsoft patent case (Guardian Unlimited)
• Acacia plunges on court loss to Microsoft (Orange Country Business Journal)