US court reinstates part of Alcatel patent case

WASHINGTON, May 8 (Reuters) - A U.S. appeals court reinstated on Thursday part of a dispute between patent-holder Alcatel-Lucent (ALUA.PA: Quote, Profile, Research) and Dell Inc (DELL.O: Quote, Profile, Research) and Microsoft (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research).

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit vacated a a finding of summary judgment that Microsoft and Dell had not infringed a patent which enables exchange of information between a terminal device, such as a computer, and a host device, like a server.

The appeals court sent the matter back to U.S. District Court in California for further proceedings.

But the appeals court upheld the lower court's ruling that the Microsoft and Dell did not infringe an Alcatel-Lucent patent involving speech compression.

In the court fight that began in 2003, Lucent sued computer makers Gateway Inc and Dell for infringement. Microsoft joined the case to support the defendants. Lucent subsequently settled with Gateway, purchased last year by Acer Inc (2353.TW: Quote, Profile, Research).

In related patent suits, a jury in April ordered Microsoft to pay $367.4 million to Alcatel-Lucent for violating two patents related to the user interface in Microsoft's software. Microsoft said it would immediately appeal.

In August 2007, U.S. District Judge Rudi Brewster tossed out a $1.5 billion jury award to Alcatel-Lucent, saying Microsoft had not infringed Alcatel-Lucent patents by allowing computers with Microsoft's Windows Media Player to create and use MP3 audio files.

Alcatel-Lucent appealed Brewster's decision to the federal circuit, which has not yet ruled. (Reporting by Diane Bartz; Editing by Tim Dobbyn)