Topic: XBOX IS DOOMED?!?(Part 53)

[Fish]

Quote
Microsoft slammed in patents dispute

Intertrust DRM case rears its head again


By Egan Orion

MICROSOFT LOST BADLY at a pre-trial hearing on patents litigation earlier this month, according to articles appearing in the Sacramento Bee and Fortune.
At issue in what Fortune calls "the biggest patent case ever" is Microsoft's allegedly wide-ranging infringement of about a dozen patents held by InterTrust on digital rights management, trusted computing, and e-commerce technologies.

InterTrust developed its patents in the '90s, planning to participate in big markets for secure digital content transactions and related payment streams. However, it alleges that Microsoft stole its technology without compensation, giving it away in many products, beggaring InterTrust. On its website, InterTrust lists 33 Volish products that it claims infringe on its patents, including Windows XP, Office (plus component products), Windows Media Player, everything .Net, Xbox and miscellaneous others.

During the Internet bubble, InterTrust had over 450 employees and sold a catalogue of hardware and software products for various secure services. Now it has 39 employees, a sheaf of patents, and a promising lawsuit.

The company was taken private earlier this year for $453 million -- most of it put up by Sony and Philips. If its litigation against Microsoft is successful, one imagines it will then go after the Big Media companies, like AOL/Time-Warner, Vivendi and Bertelsmann, then e-commerce firms.

But first it stands to take a big chunk of cash out of Microsoft, if the tea leaves from this recent pre-trial hearing are being read accurately. In that proceeding, U.S. District Court Judge Saundra Brown Armstrong sided with InterTrust in a preliminary ruling that supported all of its definitions in a dozen representative patent claims. She also chastized Microsoft's lawyers for presenting arguments unsupported by evidence or precedents, writing: "The court will not tolerate a party's creating a dispute by taking a position on a material issue where that party does not have a good-faith basis for that position that is well-supported by fact and by law." She was reported to threaten to sanction them, too.

InterTrust hasn't won yet, and the case might well be settled before it reaches trial, since the parties are entering into a negotiation phase. But there's big money involved and InterTrust now has a good indication that it might prevail in court, so Microsoft's in a rather bad position to scare it off or talk down its demands. In its litigation, InterTrust is requesting compensatory damages (for past infringements) as well as unspecified punitive damages (which can rise to three times actual).

If it prevails in court, InterTrust might even secure a court order that bars Microsoft from selling those products that infringe on its patents. Fortune quotes InterTrust CEO Talal Shamoon as asking, "How much would that be worth to Microsoft?"

No wonder the Vole's delayed paying any dividend to its shareholders. It might need the billions it has in the bank to pay InterTrust's bill

Source

Hmmm..  

[Round Eye]

Of course if Microsoft is forced to stop selling the Xbox they would actually stop losing some money.

[Berny]

*dramatic voice* This summer, there are three powers greater than X: PS2, GCN, and InterTrust.
*/dramatic voice*
AH HA HA HA HA! They dared to tred on terra incognita. Only this time, the end is nigh. It was inevitable I suppose. They should stick to software. HM! Nintendo's day will come! Nintendo will bring about a NEW era in gaming! Sorry, I think this Metroid Music is gettin to me. I wanna go blast a Jelzap. Or vaporize a Space Pirate. MMM....  

[Mario]

oooooh, ahhhhhh! Also, id like to throw this into the mix as well,

http://www.fortune.com/fortune/technology/articles/0,15114,466180,00.html

Nintendo fans unite! Xbox is doomed! One down, one to go! *looks at Sony*

Mwahahaha!

[Bloodworth]

no

I don't even care what you're writing about, the topic is flamebait enough.  Anyone can tell at this point that the Xbox is not "doomed".