After a week-long trial, a federal jury in Delaware ruled on Friday that Microsoft's virtual assistant software Cortana used voice recognition technology infringed a patent on computer communications software by IPA Technologies and that it must pay $242 million in damages, Reuters reported. Previously, a federal jury in the US state of Delaware ruled that Activision Blizzard was awarded $23.4 million in damages for infringing the patents of Acceleration Bay for multiplayer interactive feature technology, which was acquired by Microsoft in July last year.
IPA is a subsidiary of Wi-LAN, a patent licensing company that is jointly owned by Canadian technology company Quarterhill and two investment firms. IPA purchased this and several other patents from SRI International's Siri Inc for virtual voice assistants that have been used in Apple's Siri virtual assistants.
In response to the ruling, a Microsoft spokesperson said: "We maintain our belief that Microsoft has never infringed the IPA's patents and plan to file an appeal." ”
There has been no response from the IPA and Wi-LAN side.
It is reported that the IPA filed a lawsuit against Microsoft in 2018, accusing it of infringing patents related to personal digital assistants and voice-based data navigation, and the case eventually focused on one of the IPA's patents. Microsoft argues that its product is not infringing and that the patent itself is invalid.
It is worth mentioning that the IPA has also sued Google and Amazon for similar patent issues. Amazon won the case in 2021, while the IPA's case against Google is still ongoing.
Source: Reuters
编辑：Sharon