From Computer World

Lost in same Texas court that made it pay i4i nearly $300M and banned Word sales

Microsoft today said it will pay communications software maker VirnetX $200 million to settle a three-year-old patent infringement case.

In the original February 2010 lawsuit, Scotts Valley, Calif.-based VirnetX claimed Microsoft used its patented virtual private networking (VPN) technologies in Windows XP and Vista, Windows Server 2003, Live Communications Server, Windows Messenger, Office Communicator and Microsoft Office from the 2003 edition on.

VirnetX added Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 to the list of Microsoft's infringing products in a second lawsuit filed in March 2010.

A Texas federal jury awarded VirnetX $106 million last March to end the first lawsuit. At the time, Microsoft said it planned to appeal the verdict.

In a joint statement Monday, VirnetX and Microsoft announced that both lawsuits would be dismissed as part of the $200 million settlement. Microsoft will also license the VirnetX patents, the companies said.

All other aspects of the settlement will remain confidential.

"We are pleased to work with VirnetX to bring these cases to a successful resolution through this settlement," said Tom Burt, Microsoft's deputy general counsel, in the joint statement.

"We believe that this successful resolution of our litigation with Microsoft will allow us to focus on the upcoming pilot system that will showcase VirnetX's automatic Virtual Private Network technology," said Kendall Larsen, VirnetX Holding Corp.'s CEO.

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