Judge dismisses claims against Microsoft in second Alcatel-Lucent patent lawsuit

Just a week after Alcatel-Lucent was awarded $1.52 billion in a patent dispute with Microsoft, a federal judge has completely wiped out the company's claims in another, unrelated suit. Alcatel-Lucent's second lawsuit was based on a patent for speech-recognition technology originally granted to Bell Labs, which was acquired by Lucent Technologies. (Lucent and Alcatel merged last year.)

Microsoft had filed for a summary judgment against Alcatel-Lucent, which the judge granted, thereby averting the trial set to begin on March 19. That trial would have been the second in a series of six that were scheduled to run back to back. The third case covers user interface technology and is scheduled for trial beginning May 21. It names Dell and Gateway as defendants in addition to Microsoft. There are three more trials scheduled after that one, two of which name Microsoft as a defendant.

Alcatel-Lucent has said that it will appeal the judge's ruling. "We plan to appeal this decision," said Alcatel-Lucent spokesperson Joan Campion. "We are comfortable with our chances of success as the case makes its way through the legal system."