Re: Microsoft and TomTom settle

[Tim Smith]

In article <gr0isq$dps$1@blue.rahul.net>,
 c.c.eiftj@XReXXMicro.usenet.us.com (Rahul Dhesi) wrote:
> If Ballmer and Microsoft won a major amount, they would brag about it.
> If Tom-Tom was able to persuade Ballmer and Microsoft to keep that
> amount secret, then Tom-Tom must have had significant bargaining power.
> If Tom-Tom had significant bargaining power, then it's unlikely that
> Ballmer and Microsoft won a major amount.

By your argument, the lack of TomTom bragging shows it wasn't a small 
amount.

Of course TomTom had significant bargaining power.  They could have said 
they would not settle without an NDA.  Assuming valid, infringed 
patents, there is still a good chance that if Microsoft had won at 
trial, the damages would not be significantly more than their litigation 
costs.  And it would take years of appeals to actually collect.

The most likely settlement amount is something in the ballpark of what 
Microsoft normally licenses these patents for.

-- 
--Tim Smith