Its both of there faults microsoft for stealing technolgy and Lucent for being so cheap they just sued nintendo for there infringment next time do some reasearch!

this is what america is built on: sueing people for stupid things

how about get a job and work for ur money

It may be that Lucent had this adaptive thing for streaming video and audio over network lines. Something the 360 is capable of doing out of the box. Not so much the actual hardware mpeg2 playback. If it were then lucent would have to sue all companies who make both software and hardware dvd decoders. WinDVD PowerDVD etc. MS is at this time not offering the streaming aspect. Such as for live video chat and such. That is where I see Lucent has a case. What about fair competition? I can make a burger just like burger king and sell it to customers but it isn't the same because I made it with "similar" ingredients. does that mean that if customers like mine, burger king can sue me? MS is using the mpeg2 decoding from ATI not from windows. So ATI has a certain way of doing this and Lucent cant go after them but can go after the company allowing that tech to work out of the box. If MS were to0 switch over all existing and future 360 to a HD dvd drive would that stop this whole thing? Or since the hd can also decode regular mpeg2 streams, would still cause the case to go on?

That patent infringement better not be in the hardware....otherwise it's goodbye 360.

GAH! You can't even hum a tune these days without the songwriter suing for pirating their intellectual property. Blech! Now that Lucent is being acquired, their new parent will have the cash to keep this legal spat going... BLECH BLECH

steeljosh36 said:

"the Xbox 360 has had so many problems. Microsoft is prbably getting frustrated."

Oh yeah, so many problems. High Demand. No competition. Yawn. Go back to your rock and don't come out till the PS3 launches.

teh suez!!!!1

Keep on kicking Ass MICRO$OFT.....Ha ha ha ha

Microsoft could pay them off but it would be more cost efficent to buy out the entire company & get profits from it's patents

i hope they are ready to be bought out.

Man this company can't get a break for nothing.

So M$ flaws again... and people were saying stuff about Sony!

Patent #5,227,878!!!!! There will come a time when no one will be able to develop anything because of infringement violatiions. Gamespot...better make sure you aren't on anyone's hitlist, else you'll hear from some sue happy company!

If I remember correctly, Lucent didn''t patent M-peg 2, but a specific way of decoding Mpeg 2 files. That means that if MS or any other company uses this specific way of doing it, they can be sued for violating the patent. If anyone wants to check, go to the Patent Office web page and look it up.

boy, I sure didn't see that coming.
it's liked what happened with the force feed back (rumble) on the controllers for both xbox and ps2, the company with that patient sued them both, lets see how microsoft will deal with this, I mean it payed off the company in the previous incident, so I think it will do it again, if not, their royaly screwed, well I think.

What does a networking company have a video decoding patent for anyways.

i dont understand how only MSs mpeg 2 decoder is at fault? why not every other dvd player?

Patent No. 5,227,878, titled "Adaptive Coding and Decoding of Frames and Fields of Video," is stupid... stop piracy then sue microsoft..

I have no clue as to whats been said.

They just need money..thats why they be suing MS

the Xbox 360 has had so many problems. Microsoft is prbably getting frustrated.

...what goes around, comes around.....(food for thought)

People are so lawsuit-happy these days. Also, it seems that patents are granted to just about any little thing anymore, as there are over 7 million patents and climbing.

Don't Microsoft get sued on an hourly basis anyway?

oh golly gee wilikers not again

Who cares Micro$oft can afford almost anything

OMG THIS WILL TOTALLY KILL THE XBOX. Not really, quite inconsequential to the average gamer. Move along, nothing to see.

No mention here that Lucent is simply one partner in a much larger complex of companies which collectively claims ownership of MPEG-2.

Who else is there? You guessed it.

Sony, haven't you had enough trouble with Digital Property Rights Management?

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What the problem with the patient offices. Giving Patients to anybody for anything. Microsoft will proble settle the cases. For million of dollars.

They should just make the ability to sue big multinational companies part of the constitution... so you know... more people can jump onto this bandwagon of fun.

Does this mean Lucent is going after all companies who offer mpeg-2 decoding "out of the box" such as, oh..let me think...every fricking electronics company that make a dvd player! Or is it because the 360 is also a game player first and a dvd second? Did lucent go after Sony for the PS2 which had out of the box mpeg-2 capabilities?

Meh, I ain't too worried, nothing MS can't handle.

Well, let's just say I once respected Lucent as a company

OMG!!!! im going to jail for using MP2......at least sue them when the format is at least some what good....

as much as i despise microsoft, i despise such tactics even more. There should be a law introduced that adds someting called "common sense" to teh constitution. I am sick of lawyers and their loopholes.

Just another frivolous lawsuit. GOD lawyers suck.

No Phazevariance... if you change code slightly to make it your own (when there is already a patent on it) it's completly illegal and infringes the patent. If the code was created open source for a community of programmers then it's more likly that you can get away with modifying it and making it your own. But the fact remains if you modify code slightly (to make it appear as yours) its just the same as stealing a car painting it a different color to suit you... it's still stealing.

MS Fed UP...

And I just patented the number 0 and 1 on seperate pantents, so anytime computer code uses those two numbers i get $1. From anybody anwhere anytime ever forever! Can't Microsoft just modify the codec slightly so it compresses the video bits slightly differently so it doesnt infringe on the patent or did the patent encoding all together making DivX the next company to get sued?

Well, if you steal other people pat tech your gonna get caught and run through the system. But it's not like it matters. Microsoft could have to pay the other company 40billion dollars (not likely) and still be filthy rich, it's sickening how much money they have.

Good luck on Lucent getting MS to stop selling the 360 while the case is in litigation. What will end up happening is MS looking at the cost of a trial and possible fines against settling out of court. I bet on the latter since it would most likely be cheaper of the two.

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Lucent's just sore that its stock is worthless these days. They'll do anything to make a buck.

big deal, its pocket change for MS

I am sick of this sue hungry world. Now if lucent does have a legit patent. Not something like Harly wanting to patent their sound, or something stupid like that. then They might have a case worthy of my tax money that will go into paying the judge that has to hear the case. Also I would have hoped that Lucent had gone to MS first and said. Hey we have a patent on this. if MS told them to screw off then a law suit is reasonable. But this better not be a waste of money just because they want to cry about something stupid and not talk friendly about it first.

wow must be a slow day if gamespot is putting this crap up. It will be a few years before a verdict is reached. MS will probably come out the winner.

Hey, I just patented defecating. If infringment occurs for this patent, a fine of 1000 dollars will be awarded to me.

What has this world come to? Stop whining and put some pants on.

Wow! I lost a killing on LU a few years ago when the stock went from $30 to approx. $3. I am a fan of the 360, so I hope LU loses the case and gets bad PR.