Orange County Register

Uniloc Inc, an Irvine maker of anti-piracy software, has won a $388 million patent infringement case against Microsoft.

The award is the fifth largest on record in patent cases, said Uniloc’s attorney Paul Hayes of Mintz, Levin, Cohn, Ferris, Glovsky and Popeo in Boston.

A Rhode Island federal jury sided with Uniloc’s claim that Microsoft Windows XP and some Office programs infringe on a Uniloc patent issued in Australia in 1992 and in the United States in 1993. The case was originally filed in 2003.

“This is a real David and Goliath case,” Hayes said of the 20-employee Uniloc.  “Microsoft probably makes more profit in a day than Uniloc makes in sales in a year.”

Software inventor Rick Richardson, an Australian, came up with a way to block “casual copying” in 1992, Hayes said. That refers to a buyer who installs a piece of software on his computer then gives the CD to a friend who installs it and so on.

“Richardson disclosed his solution to Microsoft in 1993 and it was our allegation that they subsequently incorporated the technology in Windows and Office products in 2001,” Hayes said.

Microsoft said it will appeal the ruling.

“We are very disappointed in the jury verdict. We believe that we do not infringe, that the patent is invalid and that this award of damages is legally and factually unsupported,” Microsoft spokesman David Bowermaster said in a prepared statement.

The case has already been through one appeal. Initially, the U.S. District Court dismissed the case in a summary judgment in 2006, and Uniloc appealed. The U.S. Court of Appeals reversed the lower court and ordered a trial, which started March 22. Wednesday’s decision is the result of that trial.

Click here to read the press release from Uniloc’s law firm, Mintz Levin in Boston.

Uniloc uses its anti-piracy technology on two products: NetAnchor and SoftAnchor software.

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