Microsoft Loses Another Round in Excel Patent Case:


Things aren't going well for Microsoft on the litigation front. On Friday, a United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a patent infringement verdict against Microsoft from last year, and as Microsoft protests, the bill piles up.

The patent, owned by inventor and businessman Armando Amado, covers linking a spreadsheet to a database. He first developed the method in 1990, then offered to license it to Microsoft (Quote, Chart) in 1992 for use in Excel. Microsoft declined the offer.

Amado received a patent in 1994 and one year later, Microsoft introduced a new version of Office that featured linking of Excel spreadsheets to the Access database that came with Office. Microsoft issued a patch for its products while the case is appealed.