June 15, 2009

A long running battle between Research Corporation Technologies (RCT) and Microsoft over liability and damages is scheduled for a second trial beginning September 1, 2009.  On June 5, 2009, Judge Robert C. Jones, presiding in the District of Arizona by designation, granted a number of partial summary judgment motions filed by Klarquist Sparkman.  Significantly, the Court agreed with Microsoft that an accusation against a single feature of Microsoft’s software titles did not entitle RCT to a royalty share of the entire value of those software titles.  The Court also agreed with Microsoft: (1) to change the construction of important claim terms, to a position that Microsoft had been advocating since 2002; (2) that a continuation patent claiming subject matter that was broader than the parent application’s disclosure was not entitled to be backdated; and (3) that infringement and damages must be limited to the extent of actual instances of direct infringement, if any.  

Attorneys Kristin Cleveland, Stephen Joncus, Salumeh Loesch, Todd Siegel, John Vandenberg, and Garth Winn have led the effort for Microsoft, also represented by Jeffrey Willis of Snell & Wilmer and Stephen McGrath of Microsoft.  Plaintiff RCT is represented by the McDermott, Will & Emery.

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