AP: Judge Upholds $520M Microsoft Verdict

The half billion dollar jury decision against Microsoft in a patent dispute was reaffirmed by a federal district judge, who added to the damages $45 million in interest to boot. The original late summer jury decision found that Microsoft - and, by extension, every other browser and rich media technology maker - violated an Eolas patent that gave that small company rights to any form of interactive media that self-starts on a web page. The recent decision merely means that the judge affirmed the jury's decision.

Any further appeals will now be taken to the special federal circuit given sole jurisdiction over patent appeals. More often than not, that panel of judges overrules district judges. Even if that does not occur in this case, the Patent and Trademark Office made the very unusual decision to announce they will reconsider the granting of the original patent.