Microsoft fined $240M!

Back in 2028, IPA Technologies filed a lawsuit against Microsoft, claiming they had violated their voice technology platform to build its virtual assistant, Cortana. Now, a US jury has found Microsoft guilty of patent infringement and fined them $240M.

What was the lawsuit about?

The week-long trial was centered around the voice recognition technology that Microsoft used to build its virtual assistant, Cortana. IPA Technologies claimed that Microsoft had infringed its patented technology when building Cortana, after establishing they’d originally obtained the patent for it from SRI International’s Siri Company, which Apple then acquired and now uses for its Siri virtual assistant.

The jury chose to take IPA’s side and hit Microsoft with the hefty $240M fine.

Microsoft’s response to the fine

Microsoft has refuted the allegations and ruling, claiming that the “patent itself was invalid” and announced plans to appeal the jury’s decision firmly believing that they hadn’t infringed the voice recognition patent in any way:

"We remain confident that Microsoft never infringed on IPA's patents and will appeal," a Microsoft spokesperson said.

The decision to appeal the ruling is understandable, given they’re having to pay a huge fine for a product that’s no longer available: They announced it would stop supporting Cortana as a standalone app on Windows in June, last year.

This isn’t IPA’s first court case over patents. They filed a lawsuit against Amazon and Google for similar patent-related issues, and while Amazon won its case in 2021, Google’s case is still ongoing.

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