Lucent sues Microsoft over Xbox tech

  • By Candace Lombardi, News.com
  • Posted Apr 5, 2006 9:01 pm GMT

"Out of the box" MPEG-2 decoding capability of Xbox 360 allegedly infringes on telecom company's patent.

From News.com

Lucent Technologies has filed a patent-infringement suit against Microsoft over the same MPEG-2 decoding technology at the center of a 2003 legal dispute.

According to the formal complaint, filed March 28 in a US District Court in San Diego, the telecommunications-equipment maker is suing Microsoft for patent infringement against Patent No. 5,227,878, titled "Adaptive Coding and Decoding of Frames and Fields of Video," which was issued to Lucent in 1993. The patent concerns MPEG-2 video encoding.

In 2003, Lucent filed infringement cases against Dell and Gateway over several patents, including No. 5,227,878. Because of its indemnity agreements with the companies Lucent was going after, Microsoft filed a countersuit against Lucent that same year.

Although Microsoft won several patent infringement claims on summary judgment, the claim concerning Patent No. 5,227,878 was dismissed without prejudice (meaning the lawsuit can be filed again if the problems are fixed) because of a typographical error in Lucent's patent.

"The judge dismissed the countersuit without prejudice, giving Lucent the opportunity to file for a patent correction, which we did," John Skalko, a spokesman for Lucent, told CNET News.com. "However, between the time of this original dismissal and our resubmission, there was another development. Microsoft issued the 360."

The typographical error in the patent concerned the phrase "compressed video bit stream," which has been corrected to read "compressed digital video bit stream and fields of compressed video bit stream."

The Certification of Correction to the patent that allowed the correct phrasing to be put back in was issued by the US Patent and Trademark Office in October 2005. The certification gives Lucent "the same effect and operation in law on the trial of actions for causes thereafter arising as if the same had been originally issued in such corrected form." According to the complaint filed by Lucent, the alleged infringement on this patent concerns the Xbox 360's "'out of the box' MPEG-2 decoding capability."

"The patent at issue is one that previously had been asserted by Lucent in connection with patent litigation between the parties since 2003. We're currently reviewing the complaint. Microsoft is an intellectual property company and we respect the intellectual property rights of others," Microsoft said in a statement.

Said Skalko, "We have a case. Otherwise it wouldn't be in court."

Lucent has requested a jury trial and is seeking an injunction against unauthorized use of the technology and unspecified damages.

65 Comments

  • BRETTJB99

    Posted Jun 14, 2007 4:39 pm GMT

    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!

  • dawooten

    Posted Apr 6, 2006 5:47 pm GMT

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

  • pyth0n13

    Posted Apr 6, 2006 12:49 pm GMT

    how about get a job and work for ur money

  • skyvader

    Posted Apr 6, 2006 9:42 am GMT

    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?

  • SnuffDaddyNZ

    Posted Apr 6, 2006 8:35 am GMT

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

  • ghostpanther

    Posted Apr 6, 2006 8:12 am GMT

    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

  • SilV3RSix

    Posted Apr 6, 2006 7:38 am GMT

    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.

  • chrisdojo

    Posted Apr 6, 2006 5:53 am GMT

    teh suez!!!!1

  • UltimatumCHIEF

    Posted Apr 6, 2006 5:42 am GMT

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

  • 2x4b96123

    Posted Apr 6, 2006 3:07 am GMT

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

  • buster8695

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 10:58 pm GMT

    i hope they are ready to be bought out.

  • thekey

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 10:37 pm GMT

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

  • thefjk

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 9:19 pm GMT

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

  • cclassiter

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 8:52 pm GMT

    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!

  • Primenova

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 8:46 pm GMT

    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.

  • juanmpenato

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 8:25 pm GMT

    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.

  • PSP360Gamr83

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 8:13 pm GMT

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

  • neovalkyr

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 7:29 pm GMT

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

  • tr00pa_26

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 6:35 pm GMT

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

  • sonic86

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 6:29 pm GMT

    I have no clue as to whats been said.

  • GamerDudeB3

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 5:45 pm GMT

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

  • steeljosh36

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 5:38 pm GMT

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

  • ssj4

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 5:35 pm GMT

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

  • jimbo102671

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 4:59 pm GMT

    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.

  • SapSacPrime

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 4:43 pm GMT

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

  • peon123

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 4:17 pm GMT

    oh golly gee wilikers not again

  • Sly_Hippo

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 4:17 pm GMT

    Who cares Micro$oft can afford almost anything

  • Hesperax929

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 4:13 pm GMT

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

  • SilV3RSix

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 3:30 pm GMT

    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?

  • mr_montoya85

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 3:24 pm GMT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • Sandman100

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 3:20 pm GMT

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

  • Chromebound

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 3:15 pm GMT

    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.

  • skyvader

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 3:13 pm GMT

    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?

  • Kayrod29

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 2:23 pm GMT

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

  • OPOLO

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 2:21 pm GMT

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

  • Death1234567890

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 2:19 pm GMT

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

  • AdityaN

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 2:11 pm GMT

    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.

  • boolow407

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 2:02 pm GMT

    Just another frivolous lawsuit. GOD lawyers suck.

  • hush404

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 1:59 pm GMT

    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.

  • mrcanfwhoopass

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 1:57 pm GMT

    MS Fed UP...

  • Phazevariance

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 1:52 pm GMT

    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?

  • hush404

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 1:52 pm GMT

    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.

  • Buck_Hotep

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 1:50 pm GMT

    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.

  • akailaa

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 1:46 pm GMT

    [This message was deleted at the request of a moderator or administrator]

  • bossjimbob

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 1:45 pm GMT

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

  • insane956dv

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 1:36 pm GMT

    big deal, its pocket change for MS

  • wiljas

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 1:35 pm GMT

    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.

  • ElusiveH

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 1:31 pm GMT

    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.

  • D_cook100

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 1:29 pm GMT

    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.

  • ashuncc2

    Posted Apr 5, 2006 1:27 pm GMT

    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.

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