Vista - MSFT in the US Supreme Court MSFT vs. AT&T (05-1056) 2/21/07)

The case is Microsoft Corp. v. AT&T Corp., 05-1056 and oral argument was
2/21/07 Wednesday. MSFT litigates constantly,but this is probably their
first case that reached the US Supreme Court:

http://www.scotusblog.com/movabletyp..._hear_f_2.html

http://www.iht.com/articles/2007/02/...money/msft.php


February 21, 2007
High Court Skeptical of Microsoft Patent Ruling
By REUTERS
Filed at 2:12 p.m. ET

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. Supreme Court justices on Wednesday expressed
doubts about whether Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O) should be liable for
infringing AT&T Inc.patents in Windows software sold overseas, a case that
could determine the reach of American patents in foreign markets.

Hearing arguments in the case, the justices sharply questioned AT&T's
assertion that software code could be deemed a ``component'' of a computer,
which would make overseas sales of the software an infringement under U.S.
patent law.

Two justices expressed concern that a ruling against Microsoft could
unintentionally subject other products sold overseas to U.S. patent law.

Justice Stephen Breyer said he would be ``quite frightened of deciding for
you and discovering that all over the world there are vast numbers of
inventions that really can be thought of in the same way that you're
thinking of this one.''

The Microsoft-AT&T dispute is one of a series of important patent cases now
before the court.

At issue is a ruling last year upholding a lower court decision that
Microsoft was liable for infringing an AT&T patent for converting speech
into computer code in copies of the Windows computer operating system sold
overseas.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit said the world's largest
software maker was liable for the unauthorized distribution of codec
technology, used to compress speech signals into data, in copies of Windows
overseas.

The U.S. Justice Department has sided with much of Microsoft's argument and
said the appeals court ruling ''improperly extends United States patent law
to foreign markets'' and puts U.S. software companies at a competitive
disadvantage.

____________________________________

Thursday, February 22, 2007
Justices question AT&T arguments in dispute with Microsoft
By ASSOCIATED PRESS


WASHINGTON (AP) - A lawyer for AT&T Corp. argued before a skeptical Supreme
Court on Wednesday that Microsoft Corp. is violating one of its patents when
it sends its Windows software overseas to be copied and placed on personal
computers.

Microsoft acknowledged that it violated AT&T's patent on speech encoding
technology when it sold Windows in the United States, but disputes that it
should be held responsible for infringement when the software is copied by
foreign manufacturers.

Justice Stephen Breyer expressed some sympathy for Microsoft's argument,
suggesting AT&T should pursue its infringement complaint in overseas markets
where the copies are made.

''The whole question here is whether (the company) has to get a patent''
abroad, Breyer said.

At issue in the dispute is a section of patent law that bars companies from
shipping components of a patented invention overseas for assembly. The
intent of the provision, which became law in 1984, was to prevent companies
from circumventing patents by sending parts offshore to assemble them in a
way that would infringe the patent in the United States.

Two lower federal courts ruled in favor of AT&T. The Supreme Court is
expected to decide the case by July.

AT&T's lawyer, Seth P. Waxman, argued that the patent law ''does not reach
what anybody does overseas.'' Instead, Waxman said, Microsoft violated the
law when it sent its software from the United States to other countries to
be ''installed and stored in foreign computers.''

Microsoft's lawyer, Theodore B. Olson, countered that the company's software
is not a component until it is placed on a computer's hard drive or optical
disc and can actually be used by a computer.

''It is our position that the only components in this case are the physical
manifestations'' of the software, Olson said. It is the foreign manufacturer
that produces those components, he added, not Microsoft, which only sends a
master version of its software overseas.

Chief Justice John Roberts did not participate in the oral argument. Roberts
owns shares of Microsoft, according to the court's financial disclosure
forms.

> Microsoft's lawyer, Theodore B. Olson...

Everyone should remember him! The darling of the lunatic right who
paved the way for the supreme court to appoint Bush president.
Well MS is stupid, they got the 'right' man for the job. If only their
software engineering antennae was as astute as their politicial one.

Note his wife, the notorious republican attack dog, was on the 9/11
plane that crashed in Pa. That is sad.

www.beyondsql.blogspot.com

On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 00:44:13 -0500, "Steve Dassin" <rac4sqlnospam@net>
spake thusly:

>> Microsoft's lawyer, Theodore B. Olson...
>
>Everyone should remember him! The darling of the lunatic right who
>paved the way for the supreme court to appoint Bush president.
>Well MS is stupid, they got the 'right' man for the job. If only their
>software engineering antennae was as astute as their politicial one.
>
>Note his wife, the notorious republican attack dog, was on the 9/11
>plane that crashed in Pa. That is sad.

Given a choice I'd have rather it had been Ann Coulter instead.
--
Scott http://angrykeyboarder.com

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
NOTICE: In-Newsgroup (and therefore off-topic) comments on my sig will
be cheerfully ignored, so don't waste our time.

Ted Olson was chosen by MSFT's VP and General Counsel Brad Smith for two
reasons:

He has by virtue of having been the Bush Solicitor General many previous
apprearances before the S. Ct.
He has a social relationship with Clarence Thomas --i.e. Clarence Thomas,
one of the most unqualified individuals ever to get in the S. Ct. building
let alone (appointed to the Court by Bush the father of the current moronic
devil whose sole contribution has been to stimulate death into Dover
Coffins and medical deaths in the thousands with his health care quagmire
that denies medicine to the elderly and cuts funding for sick children in
1990).

Another MSFT sponsered web site--a good one, Slate, lets you know that Ted
Olson is one of the chairmen of the "Raise money for Scooter as he scoots to
prison to pay his multimillion dollar legal team"

http://www.slate.com/id/2136889/

Ahmm Scootin to Prison as One of the Dumbest Harvard Law Grads ever--Dick
Cheney's employee Cathie Martin, a fellow Harvard law grad and wife of the
notoriously Bush Rubber Stamp Keith Martin, chairman of the screw the
consumer Republican dominated FCC helped send me there.
http://www.scooterlibby.com/

Ted Olson has done much to get Allito and Roberts who will do everything
they can for the next 40 or so years to screw the little guy, the consumer,
and the mediclaly in need. Just read the stupidly narrow ruling in the
Phillip Morris opinion that was handed down Tuesday.

Philip Morris USA v. Williams, No. 05-1256,

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/wa...=1&oref=slogin

Will these scumbags grant Libby a pardon? It would have to be damn fast if
it's Fitzgerald's attention to flip LIbby as the main snitch to go after
Cheney as he should.

You won't see Ted Olson's fund raising efforts among fat cat arch
conservatives for the Federal Defender Program. It's only targeted at Libby
who inherited many millions of dollars from his dad.

You won't see Libby's cry baby lawyer in a case like this unless you show
him millions of dollars to assemble a legal team including expensive
investigation in contrast to many states whose court appointed defenders
cannot afford to mount defenses for their clients.

CH

"Steve Dassin" <rac4sqlnospam@net> wrote in message
news:u$y8XSlVHHA.4964@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> Microsoft's lawyer, Theodore B. Olson...
>
> Everyone should remember him! The darling of the lunatic right who
> paved the way for the supreme court to appoint Bush president.
> Well MS is stupid, they got the 'right' man for the job. If only their
> software engineering antennae was as astute as their politicial one.
>
> Note his wife, the notorious republican attack dog, was on the 9/11
> plane that crashed in Pa. That is sad.
>
> www.beyondsql.blogspot.com
>
>

I meant 'Well MS isn't stupid...atleast potitically

You seem educated, insightful and can connect dotes.
What are you doing on an MS forum? -

Keep up the good fight,
P.S. Do you remember Barabara Olson? She was a piece of work.

best,
steve

"Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net> wrote in message
news:OyPYqhpVHHA.5100@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> Ted Olson was chosen by MSFT's VP and General Counsel Brad Smith for two
> reasons:
>
> He has by virtue of having been the Bush Solicitor General many previous
> apprearances before the S. Ct.
> He has a social relationship with Clarence Thomas --i.e. Clarence Thomas,
> one of the most unqualified individuals ever to get in the S. Ct. building
> let alone (appointed to the Court by Bush the father of the current
> moronic devil whose sole contribution has been to stimulate death into
> Dover Coffins and medical deaths in the thousands with his health care
> quagmire that denies medicine to the elderly and cuts funding for sick
> children in 1990).
>
> Another MSFT sponsered web site--a good one, Slate, lets you know that
> Ted Olson is one of the chairmen of the "Raise money for Scooter as he
> scoots to prison to pay his multimillion dollar legal team"
>
> http://www.slate.com/id/2136889/
>
> Ahmm Scootin to Prison as One of the Dumbest Harvard Law Grads ever--Dick
> Cheney's employee Cathie Martin, a fellow Harvard law grad and wife of the
> notoriously Bush Rubber Stamp Keith Martin, chairman of the screw the
> consumer Republican dominated FCC helped send me there.
> http://www.scooterlibby.com/
>
> Ted Olson has done much to get Allito and Roberts who will do everything
> they can for the next 40 or so years to screw the little guy, the
> consumer, and the mediclaly in need. Just read the stupidly narrow ruling
> in the Phillip Morris opinion that was handed down Tuesday.
>
> Philip Morris USA v. Williams, No. 05-1256,
>
> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/wa...=1&oref=slogin
>
> Will these scumbags grant Libby a pardon? It would have to be damn fast if
> it's Fitzgerald's attention to flip LIbby as the main snitch to go after
> Cheney as he should.
>
> You won't see Ted Olson's fund raising efforts among fat cat arch
> conservatives for the Federal Defender Program. It's only targeted at
> Libby who inherited many millions of dollars from his dad.
>
> You won't see Libby's cry baby lawyer in a case like this unless you show
> him millions of dollars to assemble a legal team including expensive
> investigation in contrast to many states whose court appointed defenders
> cannot afford to mount defenses for their clients.
>
> CH
>
> "Steve Dassin" <rac4sqlnospam@net> wrote in message
> news:u$y8XSlVHHA.4964@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>> Microsoft's lawyer, Theodore B. Olson...
>>
>> Everyone should remember him! The darling of the lunatic right who
>> paved the way for the supreme court to appoint Bush president.
>> Well MS is stupid, they got the 'right' man for the job. If only their
>> software engineering antennae was as astute as their politicial one.
>>
>> Note his wife, the notorious republican attack dog, was on the 9/11
>> plane that crashed in Pa. That is sad.
>>
>> www.beyondsql.blogspot.com
>>
>>
>

Steve--

I remember Barbara Olson. She was a chip off the ole dumb as a rock Anne
Coulter and a quintissential shallow Right Wing Republican woman for a rigid
screw the non-affluent Ted Olson.

His closest friends included two people who should be working in the back
of a burger chef instead of in appellate law--even though his right wing
zealot law clerks do almost all his writing--Clarence Thomas--(and his wife,
Ginny Thomas. Thomas is Scalia's trained for 99% obedience puppy dog.

There are few quality appellate law firms who would hire Thomas to sweep the
floor.

She was on her way to the Bill Maher show from DC to LA to spout some of her
stupid Victoria Tensinguesque inanities when the incompetency of the Bush
administration allowed her plane to be interrupted.

MSFT was stupid politically when they hired Ralph Reed who is a heart beat
away from his former best friend Jack Abramoff and would have been
prosecuted if the State's Attorney in Texas hadn't been so stupid as to let
the statute of limitations run. If the current DOJ weren't having Saturday
Nite Masaquers of US Attorneys who prosecute in areas they don't want
prosecuted, Reed would have been convicted long ago in Federal court. MSFT
paid Reed a few million dollars, only firing him when the connection hit the
Seattle media and Reed's activities were profiled. Do a google with terms
like Microsoft Ralph Reed Mariana Islands and see what comes up.

A former White House employee named Susan Ralston should have been convicted
long ago, but although he had no significant experience whatsoever in
federal litigation and couldn't write an appellate brief to save his ass
Gonzales runs DOJ a lot more ruthlessly than Tony Soprano runs his homies.

http://www.tpmmuckraker.com/archives/001747.php

CH

"Steve Dassin" <steve@nospamrac4sql.net> wrote in message
news:u6xy3PrVHHA.2256@TK2MSFTNGP02.phx.gbl...
>I meant 'Well MS isn't stupid...atleast potitically
>
> You seem educated, insightful and can connect dotes.
> What are you doing on an MS forum? -
>
> Keep up the good fight,
> P.S. Do you remember Barabara Olson? She was a piece of work.
>
> best,
> steve
>
> "Chad Harris" <vistaneedsmuchowork.net> wrote in message
> news:OyPYqhpVHHA.5100@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>> Ted Olson was chosen by MSFT's VP and General Counsel Brad Smith for two
>> reasons:
>>
>> He has by virtue of having been the Bush Solicitor General many previous
>> apprearances before the S. Ct.
>> He has a social relationship with Clarence Thomas --i.e. Clarence Thomas,
>> one of the most unqualified individuals ever to get in the S. Ct.
>> building let alone (appointed to the Court by Bush the father of the
>> current moronic devil whose sole contribution has been to stimulate
>> death into Dover Coffins and medical deaths in the thousands with his
>> health care quagmire that denies medicine to the elderly and cuts funding
>> for sick children in 1990).
>>
>> Another MSFT sponsered web site--a good one, Slate, lets you know that
>> Ted Olson is one of the chairmen of the "Raise money for Scooter as he
>> scoots to prison to pay his multimillion dollar legal team"
>>
>> http://www.slate.com/id/2136889/
>>
>> Ahmm Scootin to Prison as One of the Dumbest Harvard Law Grads ever--Dick
>> Cheney's employee Cathie Martin, a fellow Harvard law grad and wife of
>> the notoriously Bush Rubber Stamp Keith Martin, chairman of the screw the
>> consumer Republican dominated FCC helped send me there.
>> http://www.scooterlibby.com/
>>
>> Ted Olson has done much to get Allito and Roberts who will do everything
>> they can for the next 40 or so years to screw the little guy, the
>> consumer, and the mediclaly in need. Just read the stupidly narrow
>> ruling in the Phillip Morris opinion that was handed down Tuesday.
>>
>> Philip Morris USA v. Williams, No. 05-1256,
>>
>> http://www.nytimes.com/2007/02/21/wa...=1&oref=slogin
>>
>> Will these scumbags grant Libby a pardon? It would have to be damn fast
>> if it's Fitzgerald's attention to flip LIbby as the main snitch to go
>> after Cheney as he should.
>>
>> You won't see Ted Olson's fund raising efforts among fat cat arch
>> conservatives for the Federal Defender Program. It's only targeted at
>> Libby who inherited many millions of dollars from his dad.
>>
>> You won't see Libby's cry baby lawyer in a case like this unless you
>> show him millions of dollars to assemble a legal team including expensive
>> investigation in contrast to many states whose court appointed defenders
>> cannot afford to mount defenses for their clients.
>>
>> CH
>>
>> "Steve Dassin" <rac4sqlnospam@net> wrote in message
>> news:u$y8XSlVHHA.4964@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
>>>> Microsoft's lawyer, Theodore B. Olson...
>>>
>>> Everyone should remember him! The darling of the lunatic right who
>>> paved the way for the supreme court to appoint Bush president.
>>> Well MS is stupid, they got the 'right' man for the job. If only their
>>> software engineering antennae was as astute as their politicial one.
>>>
>>> Note his wife, the notorious republican attack dog, was on the 9/11
>>> plane that crashed in Pa. That is sad.
>>>
>>> www.beyondsql.blogspot.com
>>>
>>>
>>
>
>

On Thu, 22 Feb 2007 10:45:02 -0500, "Chad Harris"
<vistaneedsmuchowork.net> spake thusly:

[.......]

>Another MSFT sponsered web site--a good one, Slate......

Slate no longer has any affiliation with Microsoft since they sold it
to the Washington Post Company.

You'll note there's no "MSN" anything on the site these days.

--
Scott http://angrykeyboarder.com

A: Because it messes up the order in which people normally read text.
Q: Why is top-posting such a bad thing?
NOTICE: In-Newsgroup (and therefore off-topic) comments on my sig will
be cheerfully ignored, so don't waste our time.