Microsoft Loses S. Korea Patent Ruling
Microsoft might be forced to stop selling its top software products in South Korea as a result of a patent-infringement ruling made over the weekend against the company.
South Korea’s highest court rejected a request from the software giant to toss out a patent obtained in the 1980s by Professor Lee Keung-Hae of Hankuk Aviation University.
The case, which focuses on the automatic translation between English and Korean in Microsoft Office, was brought against the company in 2000 by technology firm P&IB, acting on Professor Lee’s behalf.
“Microsoft adapted our technologies to its Office package without dealing with Professor Lee and it claimed the patents were not effective in the court,” P&IB President Kim Kil-Hae was quoted by the Korean Times as saying.
Language Technologies
The Supreme Court of South Korea ruled that the patents are effective for technologies switching the input mode between Korean and English. P&IB, a technology language transfer company, purchased the patent rights from Professor Lee in the late 1990s, according to the company.
P&IB said the decision concerning language-switching software will eventually force Microsoft to exclude these technologies in its Korean Office package. The Korean firm is seeking $75 million in compensation for patent violation.
Microsoft has said it still expects the patents will be invalidated.
“This is a multi-step process,” Microsoft spokesperson Matt Pilla told Top Tech News. “The courts in Korea have not yet considered all of our strong challenges to the validity of the patent, and our defense of non-infringement is still being considered in a separate proceeding,” said Pilla. “We do not currently anticipate any interruption to our ability to continue offering Microsoft Office in Korea.”
Legal Wranglings
This is not the first time the software giant has had trouble in South Korea. In October of last year, Microsoft said it might be forced to withdraw Windows from…
