Uniloc, a software company specialising in IT security and piracy protection, was brought to the international spotlight with its lawsuit against Microsoft for infringing its patent relating to product activation technology in 2003. Subsequently, Uniloc won a $US388 million jury verdict which found Microsoft was in violation of the patent, however, this decision was famously overturned by US District Judge Smith who stated that the jury “lacked a grasp of the issues before it and reached a finding without a legally sufficient basis.” This ruling was heavily contested by Uniloc and an appeal has been filed against the Judge’s decision in the US Court of Appeals.
It seems Uniloc has continued its tradition of aggressively protecting its intellectual property and has now sued 10 companies in the US, which include industry leaders such as Symantec Corp, Adobe Systems and CA Inc. The lawsuit filed seeks unspecified cash compensation and a court order that would block further use of its technology.
It will be interesting to see what the outcome of the new lawsuit will be and its impact on Uniloc’s appeal against Microsoft. As a patent attorney firm we are keeping a close eye on these cases to gauge the possible avenues of protecting intellectual property in the US and to learn how to further strengthen our clients’ applications in the future.
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