Microsoft News Tracker

Ina Fried at CNET:

A U.S. appeals court has upheld a ruling that Microsoft’s Office software infringes on a Guatemalan inventor’s technology, lawyers for the inventor said Friday.

Morrison & Foerster said that on Wednesday, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington affirmed a verdict that Microsoft’s Office software infringed on a patent held by Carlos Armando Amado. In June 2005, an Orange County, Calif., jury awarded Amado $6.1 million, ruling that Microsoft’s method of linking its Access database and Excel spreadsheet infringed on Amado’s technology.

“This ruling signals the validity of the patent and confirms Microsoft’s liability of infringement on Mr. Amado’s software program,” Vince Belusko, a Morrison & Foerster partner, said in a statement. A Microsoft representative did not immediately have a comment.
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Since the jury verdict last year, Microsoft has altered Office, alerting businesses back in January that they will need to upgrade to the modified version.

We mentioned the required patches back in January.