Microsoft to pay $200 Million in patent to VirnetX
By siliconindia   |   Wednesday, 19 May 2010, 14:45 IST   |    1 Comments
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Microsoft to pay $200 Million in patent to VirnetX
Bangalore: Microsoft agreed to pay VirnetX Holding $200 million to settle a patent dispute over VPN technology in Windows.As part of the settlement; Microsoft will also obtain a license to use VirnetX technology in Microsoft products, reports Lance Whitney from cnet news. In 2007 VirnetX first sued Microsoft, claiming the software giant had violated two of its Virtual Private Network (VPN) patents through the use of the technology in Windows XP and Vista. A U.S. District Court ruled in VirnetX's favor in March, determining that Microsoft had willfully infringed on the VPN patents in question and ordering the company to pay VirnetX damages of $105.75 million. "We are pleased to work with VirnetX to bring these cases to a successful resolution through this settlement. We look forward to VirnetX's continued progress as it develops its technologies," said Tom Burt, Deputy General Counsel for Microsoft in a statement. VirnetX asserted that Microsoft had violated U.S. patents 6,502,135 and 7,188,180, which both cover specific ways to secure IP-based communications through VPNs and similar technologies. Just a few days after the verdict was handed down, VirnetX filed another lawsuit against Microsoft, claiming that the same patent-violating technologies were also in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2. As part of the settlement, the lawsuits will be dismissed. Although the final $200 million in damages is almost double the $105.75 million that Microsoft was first ordered to pay, that amount could have tripled had the companies not come to an agreement.O ther aspects of the settlement were not revealed. The companies released a joint statement, although VirnetX mainly took the opportunity to note its new Secure Domain Name project.

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