By Ben Fox Rubin
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT) is in talks with small technology firm
Vringo Inc. (VRNG) to settle a patent suit Vringo filed against the
tech giant earlier this year, according to a recently filed court
document.
Vringo, which focuses on mobile technology and intellectual
property, sued Microsoft in January over its use of technology
covered by the same two patents it referenced in a suit it won
against Google Inc. (GOOG) and others last year.
In a court document dated Wednesday, a pretrial conference for
the Microsoft suit was postponed to June from April, after Vringo
disclosed to the judge settlement discussions were taking
place.
Vringo declined to comment and a Microsoft representative wasn't
immediately available for comment.
Vringo's shares jumped 16% to $3.20, while Microsoft was up 0.3%
to $28.45.
Vringo had sued Google--the primary defendant--as well as AOL
Inc. (AOL), IAC/InterActiveCorp. (IACI) and others, alleging
infringement of two of its patents used to select and position
advertising on Internet-search results. It won about $30 million in
damages and was granted future royalties from the suit, which have
been estimated to be valued at several hundreds of millions of
dollars.
That case remains in its post-trial phase. Google has suggested
it will appeal, saying it would ultimately win the case.
In the new suit, Vringo alleged Microsoft had willfully
infringed the two patents with its search engine, Bing.com.
Write to Ben Fox Rubin at ben.rubin@dowjones.com
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