Jury: Microsoft infringed patents

BEIJING, April 7 -- Microsoft Corp, the world's biggest software maker, was told to pay 368 million U.S. dollars after a jury found it infringed two patents owned by Alcatel-Lucent SA for touch-screen form entry and use of a stylus on computers.

Alcatel-Lucent had asked for about 1.75 billion dollars from Microsoft and Dell Inc after claiming four of its patents were violated. The jury in federal court in San Diego also said Dell infringed the stylus patent and owed Alcatel-Lucent 51,000 dollars. It rejected claims of infringement on two other patents related to video controls.

"It's kind of a mixed verdict everybody wins," U.S. District Judge Marilyn L. Huff joked with the lawyers after the jury was dismissed.

"There's something for everybody."

The verdict is the second-biggest patent award this year, and the fifth-biggest in U.S. history in a patent case, according to Bloomberg data.

The biggest-ever patent verdict was a 1.52 billion U.S. award against Microsoft in a related trial last year brought by Alcatel-Lucent.

That verdict was later thrown out and Alcatel-Lucent is appealing.