A $388 million patent-infringement verdict has been overturned by a US district court, in a case that has been going on for six years. The patent in question, held by software maker Uniloc, relates to antipiracy tools requiring user registration, meaning software can not be used on more than one machine. The company claim that the original patent holder showed his program to Microsoft under the understanding that it would not duplicate it, but then went on to do so. Microsoft states that it did not use the method for registering software described in the patent, opting for a different implementation instead. The Rhode Island court had ordered Microsoft to pay Uniloc $388 million back in April, which came as a result of Uniloc appealing a decision that had been given in Microsoft's favor in 2007. After the latest appeal, this has been reversed, leaving Microsoft in the clear again.
When the case was first filed in 2003, Uniloc had been looking for $560 million in damages.