Microsoft said today it will pay VirnetX Holding Corp. $200 million to settle patent infringement cases brought by VirnetX against the Redmond, WA-based software company. VirnetX (NYSE AMEX: [[ticker:VHC]]), an Internet security firm based in Scotts Valley, CA, filed a lawsuit in 2007 alleging that Microsoft Windows, Office, and other products infringed on two of its patents by including virtual private networking technologies. In March 2010, VirnetX won a first round of litigation and filed another lawsuit, alleging patent infringement in Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008. As part of the overall settlement, Microsoft will take a license to the VirnetX patents.
Author: Gregory T. Huang
Greg is a veteran journalist who has covered a wide range of science, technology, and business. As former editor in chief, he overaw daily news, features, and events across Xconomy's national network. Before joining Xconomy, he was a features editor at New Scientist magazine, where he edited and wrote articles on physics, technology, and neuroscience. Previously he was senior writer at Technology Review, where he reported on emerging technologies, R&D, and advances in computing, robotics, and applied physics. His writing has also appeared in Wired, Nature, and The Atlantic Monthly’s website. He was named a New York Times professional fellow in 2003.
Greg is the co-author of Guanxi (Simon & Schuster, 2006), about Microsoft in China and the global competition for talent and technology. Before becoming a journalist, he did research at MIT’s Artificial Intelligence Lab. He has published 20 papers in scientific journals and conferences and spoken on innovation at Adobe, Amazon, eBay, Google, HP, Microsoft, Yahoo, and other organizations. He has a Master’s and Ph.D. in electrical engineering and computer science from MIT, and a B.S. in electrical engineering from the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
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