Add as a preferred source on Google


Barney's Blog

Blog archive

Microsoft Lawyers Save Company $388M

Sometimes, even the most expensive lawyers are worth the dough. And after getting a nearly $400 million judgment against it dismissed, I'm sure Microsoft agrees. The whole dispute centers on whether the activation technology for key Microsoft operating systems (you know how much you love product activation) violates patents held by Uniloc. A judge in Rhode Island says it doesn't.

What do you think of Microsoft's product activation? Should the company have to pay customers the $388 million for activation pain and suffering? Send your best legal opinions to [email protected].

Meanwhile, as if Bill Gates needed more good news, Forbes has once again crowned him America's richest man with $50 billion in the bank -- even after giving billions to charity.

But not all legal and financial news is good. Microsoft is still trying to overturn a $240 million judgment because Office violates patents held by i4i.

Posted by Doug Barney on October 01, 2009


Featured

  • Microsoft Dismantles RedVDS Cybercrime Marketplace Linked to $40M in Phishing Fraud

    In a coordinated action spanning the United States and the United Kingdom, Microsoft’s Digital Crimes Unit (DCU) and international law enforcement collaborators have taken down RedVDS, a subscription based cybercrime platform tied to an estimated $40 million in fraud losses in the U.S. since March 2025.

  • Sound Wave Illustration

    CrowdStrike's Acquisition of SGNL Aims to Strengthen Identity Security

    CrowdStrike signs definitive agreement to purchase SGNL, an identity security specialist, in a deal valued at about $740 million.

  • Microsoft Acquires Osmos, Automating Data Engineering inside Fabric

    In a strategic move to reduce time-consuming manual data preparation, Microsoft has acquired Seattle-based startup Osmos, specializing in agentic AI for data engineering.

  • Linux Foundation Unites Major Tech Firms to Launch Agentic AI Foundation

    The Linux Foundation today announced the creation of a new collaborative initiative — the Agentic AI Foundation (AAIF) — bringing together major AI and cloud players such as Microsoft, OpenAI, Anthropic and other major tech companies.

Most   Popular