After 6 years of the filing Microsoft fined $388 million for patent infringement

On Wednesday Microsoft Corp. was ordered to pay $388 million in damages for infringing a patent held by anti-piracy software maker Uniloc Inc. The software giant denied the fairness of the verdict and announced its plans to appeal.

A jury in federal court in Rhode Island found that Microsoft infringed Uniloc's patent on software that assigns unique identities to licensed users and prevents unauthorized distribution or copying of the applications.

"We believe that we do not infringe, that the patent is invalid and that this award of damages is legally and factually unsupported," said a Microsoft spokesman. "We will ask the court to overturn the verdict."

The suit was originally filed by Uniloc USA and its Singapore-based parent in 2003. The filing claimed that Microsoft violated its patent with security software that was used to hinder unlicensed use of its Windows XP operating system and a number of its Office suite products. Thus, past six years the trial was launched in March. The fine is said to be the largest in patent related suits.