Recently the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a $140 Million verdict against Microsoft for patent infringement.  So what's new?  Microsoft has a long string of patent infringement lawsuits, that often end up with Microsoft purchasing the plaintiff.  The irony in this case is that Microsoft was apparently violating intellectual property rights of another to protect its own intellectual property rights.

Z4 Technologies, Inc. sued Micosoft and Autodesk for infringing U.S. Patent Nos. 6044471 and 6785825.  The two patents cover methods for preventing software piracy by monitoring registration information.  Z4 claimed that Microsoft's Office infringed the patents in its attempt to prevent unauthorized copying of the software.

A jury in the Eastern District of Texas found Microsoft liable and awarded $115 Million.  The Judge tacked on an additional $25 Million for alleged litigation misconduct on the part of Microsoft.  On appeal, Microsoft argued that is did not infringe because a computer could not be a "user" as defined by the patents' claims.  It also argued that Z4's patents were invalid.  The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit was apparently unimpressed with the arguments and upheld the award.

So next time you want to prevent others from violating your intellectual property rights, make sure you are respecting the intellectual property rights of others.