Microsoft Corp. has won a favorable jury verdict in a 2-year-old patent-infringement case regarding technology used in its Office productivity suite. After a two-week trial, a jury in U.S. District Court in Providence, R.I., ruled Wednesday that Microsoft"s Smart Tags technology does not infringe on a patent held by Norwegian inventor Alte Hedloy of Arendi Holding Ltd., a Microsoft spokeswoman confirmed.
The case centered on one of the three Smart Tags built into Microsoft Office XP and 2003. The feature in question works in Microsoft Word and associates a typed name with a contact in Microsoft Outlook. When users type a name, they can click an option to automatically enter the person into their Outlook contacts or, if the contact already exists, look up contact information or send an e-mail.