The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday agreed to hear Microsoft Corp.’s challenge to a nearly $300 million patent infringement judgment against it, which the company claims is the largest patent verdict ever upheld on appeal.
The issue in the case, Microsoft Corp. v. i4i L.P., comes into play when companies like Microsoft are sued for infringing on someone else’s patent and defend themselves by claiming the patent was invalid in the first place. Microsoft claims the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, in ruling against Microsoft, unfairly enforced a standard of proof— clear and convincing evidence—that makes it too hard to show patent invalidity.
