U.S. high court hands tech firms patent victories

By Peter Kaplan

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Monday sided with software and technology companies in two major patent rulings that could leave them less vulnerable to infringement lawsuits.

The high court moved to curb the liability of firms for infringing products sold overseas and in another case loosened a key legal standard making it easier to invalidate some patents on the grounds they are obvious inventions.

The decisions were applauded by software and technology companies.

"These decisions are a clear victory for promoting patent quality and more equitable damages standards," said Robert Holleyman, president of the Business Software Alliance trade group, in a statement.

In the first ruling, the Supreme Court overturned a ruling that Microsoft (MSFT.O) should be held liable for patent infringement on copies of its Windows operating system sold overseas.

By a 7-1 vote, the justices rejected arguments by AT&T (T.N) that Microsoft software code that infringes on its patents could be deemed a "component" of a computer, making overseas sales of the Windows operating system an infringement under U.S. patent law.

The court likened Windows software to a "blueprint" for making a product and said it "is not itself a combinable component."

In a second ruling, the justices unanimously said the courts should be more flexible in the way they interpret the standard governing whether patents are valid or merely "obvious" combinations of previous inventions that should be rejected.