Uniloc v. Microsoft

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20090930/ap_on_bi_ge/us_microsoft_uniloc_patents_4

In searching for news that dealt with patent cases in new media, it was impossible to avoid the issue that is currently going on with Microsoft, because there are updates posted to every news site at least twice a day. The case has been running for six years, and is still going strong, as the company Uniloc is trying to sue Microsoft for using a code that makes it impossible to install software on multiple machines. Uniloc claims that they had a patent on the software code that created a similar function, and that the code by Microsoft is similar in multiple parts.

Initially, a jury awarded Uniloc $388 million, but this was recently taken back by a federal court who stated that this number didn't properly account for the money lost in the patent case.

The first case was decided by a jury, and it makes me wonder how a court expects this sort of issue to be handled by people off the street, when even a media student who is experienced in patent law is a bit boggled by the six years of back and forth debate between these two major players in new media. This makes the idea of patent centered court seem positive, because it would be experienced people only dealing with this very complex section of the law, even though there are many arguments against keeping a patent centered court.