So contrary to the previous ruling, Microsoft has now had a previous 1.5 Billion dollar ruling reversed. The previous ruling was made by a jury that determined Microsoft had violated Alcatel-Lucent patents related to MP3 audio technology.
But this week’s a federal judge has ruled that Microsoft has not violated any of the patents. So unless Microsoft loses an appeal, they’ve been saved. This is good news since the loss could have had ripple effects across the digital music industry. The last thing we need is for the most pervasive file format on the planet to be patented into the ground.