Appeals Court Reinstates Uniloc Win in Microsoft Case, But Calls for New Trial re $390M Jury Award

A federal appeals court has reinstated a jury verdict against Microsoft Corp. in favor of anti-piracy software maker Uniloc USA Inc.

However, a $388 million jury award to Uniloc in the patent case was "fundamentally tainted," requiring a new trial on damages, said the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in its opinion today, reports the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.).

The panel nixed a federal judge's reversal of a jury's decision that a Microsoft anti-piracy system to prevent users from installing the same software on multiple computers infringed on Uniloc's anti-piracy software, finding that the jury verdict in the District of Rhode Island case was supported by substantial evidence.

Apparently underlying the damages reversal was a pie chart shown to jurors that attributed $19.1 billion in revenue to Microsoft from the Windows XP operating system, according to Bloomberg.

Earlier coverage:

ABAJournal.com: "Federal Judge Nixes $390M Jury Verdict in Microsoft Patent Case"