Posted on Wednesday, May 19 2010 @ 0:10 CEST by Thomas De Maesschalck
Bit Tech
reports Microsoft has made a settlement to pay $200 million to VirnetX to get an irrevocable right to use the firm's VPN technology, after a court ordered Microsoft to cease its infringement and pay the company $105.6 million in damages.
Sadly, that just wasn't an option for Microsoft: with all current versions of Windows featuring the patented VPN technology, to 'cease infringement' would have meant the withdrawal from sale of all copies of its operating system - an infeasible suggestion.
Accordingly, the company has just announced that it has, instead, reached a licensing agreement with VirnetX that sees it granted a irrevocable right to use the company's VPN technology and the dismissal of all active and pending lawsuits regarding the matter in exchange for a one-off payment of $200 million (around £135 million) - almost double the damages originally awarded by the court.
