Microsoft Loses Patent Infringement Case to Guatemalan Inventor

Carlos Amado was a student at Stanford, United States when he developed the technology which reportedly is currently used by the software giant Microsoft to link Microsoft’s Excel spreadsheet program with its Access databases.

Amado sued the company for patent infringement and the news in is that he has won the case with Microsoft ordered by a U.S. District Court in Central California to pay $8.96 million for infringing on the patent which was registered way back in 1994.

Amado’s attorney Vince Belusko was pleased by the ruling as he said in a statement: “We are pleased with the verdict, which clearly states that Mr. Amado’s patent rights have been vindicated.” Microsoft on the other hand is disappointed. The official word from the company on the ruling was: “While today’s verdict is disappointing, we are pleased the jury did reject Mr. Amado’s large damage claims.”

The company continues to claim that it was their software engineers who came up with the technology and they did not steal anything from the patent owned by Mr. Amado. The plaintiff had claimed for as much as USD 500 million which was ignored by the courts. Microsoft on their part has yet to decide on whether to appeal on the ruling or not.

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