Supreme Court battle looms between AT&T and Microsoft over patent infringement

It rests on just two words in an obscure federal law, but billions of dollars may hang in the balance.

Today, the U.S. Supreme Court will hear arguments in Microsoft vs. AT&T, a complex transnational patent infringement case that the software industry says, if upheld, could threaten its business and drive thousands of jobs overseas.

At issue is whether copies of the Microsoft Windows operating system sold abroad infringe on a U.S. patent owned by AT&T, but the decision will affect every American software company doing business outside the United States.


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