Microsoft is to pay $440-million to Silicon Valley company Intertrust to settle a lawsuit that the software giant illegally used technology for protecting music, movies and other digital content against piracy, the firms announced on Monday.
The settlement resolves a three-year legal dispute after InterTrust claimed that features in Microsoft’s products infringed on its patents for digital rights management (DRM), or anti-piracy.
The code is designed to prevent unauthorised distribution of digital media by limiting the number of copies that can be made from a file — a song or movie — that is downloaded over the internet.
Such technology is expected to become increasingly important as the spread of broadband makes the internet ever more popular for distributing movies, music and even TV shows. There is still no industry standard for DRM, with Microsoft competing with other companies such as Real Networks to attract media companies to their version.
The settlement grants Microsoft a licence to use InterTrust technology and may clear the way for media and technology industries to begin standardising DRM systems, said analyst David Schatsky of Jupiter Research.
”The settlement gives InterTrust its due, and it allows Microsoft to focus on enriching its DRM platform,” he said.
The deal is the second settlement by Microsoft announced this month. Last week, Microsoft agreed to pay archrival Sun Microsystems $1,6-billion to settle a private antitrust suit and resolve patent claims.
”Licensing InterTrust’s patent portfolio reaffirms Microsoft’s commitment to the importance of intellectual property rights, as well as our commitment to our ustomers to stand behind our products in these emerging technology areas,” Marshall Phelps, deputy general counsel at Microsoft, said in a statement. – Sapa-DPA