Microsoft, Dell lose bid to void Alcatel lawsuit
Seattle PI | at | by Mike
Microsoft, Dell Inc. and Gateway Inc. have lost a bid to have a $2 billion patent-infringement lawsuit by Alcatel-Lucent over a standard technology for playing DVDs, Internet videos and computer games thrown out of court.
Judge Rudi Brewster in San Diego rejected the companies' challenge to the transfer of two patents into a trust before last year's merger of Alcatel SA and Lucent Technologies Inc. Microsoft, Dell and Gateway had argued that the move was a sham to keep Lucent's patents separate from an Alcatel licensing deal.