Rhode Island patent jury “lacked a grasp of the issues before it"; Microsoft gets win in Uniloc case

Bloomberg notes that U.S. District Judge William Smith in Providence, Rhode Island, on Sept. 29 vacated an April 2009 jury verdict of patent infringement of a Uniloc patent by Microsoft.

In his order, Judge Smith wrote that the jury “lacked a grasp of the issues before it and reached a finding without a legally sufficient basis.”

See also

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2009/05/microsoft-loses-200m-jury-verdict-in-ed.html

http://ipbiz.blogspot.com/2009/06/richardson-of-uniloc-on-invention.html

***Nick Farrell at the Inquirer wrote:

Smith and Richardson are not the best of friends. During the first appeal his lawyers asked that a new judge be appointed to handle the case but that request was denied.
Richardson's company Uniloc had claimed the judgment was tainted because Judge Smith had employed an intern with ties to Microsoft to help review the evidence, although the appeals court found that did not have a material impact.
The appeals court didn't think the judge was biased because the intern had no financial stake in the outcome of the case.

In Australia, Microsoft is "the Vole."