NEW YORK (REUTERS)

A US federal jury found that Microsoft Corp infringed audio patents held by Alcatel-Lucent and should pay $US1.52 billion ($A1.92 billion) in damages, Microsoft said.Microsoft said it planned to first ask the trial judge to knock down the ruling and would appeal if necessary.It said the verdict was unsupported by the law or the facts.Alcatel-Lucent had accused the world's biggest software maker of infringing patents related to standards used for playing computer music, or MP3, files.

"We made strong arguments supporting our view and we are pleased with the court's decision," said Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman Joan Campion, declining to discuss details of the decision.Microsoft said it has already properly licensed the MP3 technology from a German company called Fraunhofer for $US16 million ($A20.26 million)."We are concerned that this decision opens the door for Alcatel-Lucent to pursue action against hundreds of other companies who purchased the rights to use MP3 technology from Fraunhofer, the industry-recognised rightful licensor," Tom Burt, Microsoft's deputy general counsel, said in a statement.

Microsoft and Alcatel are locked in a number of patent disputes including a suit over the video-decoding technology in Microsoft's Xbox 360 video game console.Shares of Microsoft closed four cents higher at $29.39 on Nasdaq. (23/02/2007 08:36:32 AM)