Microsoft was ordered to pay a $1.5 billion judgment to Alcatel Lucent over MP3 patents by a federal jury in San Diego. The judgment includes damages based on Windows PCs sold since May 2003, including sales outside of the U.S. Alcatel-Lucent has other patent claims still pending and Microsoft has countersued.

Microsoft had already paid $16 million to Fraunhofer, a German company responsible for administering and licensing MP3 technology. The judgment could have a large impact on the technology industry. Many companies like Microsoft had bought licenses through Fraunhofer under the belief that it fully covered MP3 technology use. Now they too are open to similar claims.