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Amazon.com Shells Out Big Dough to Settle Patent LawsuitBY JOHANNE TORRES TMCnet VoIP Minute Watch Columnist Amazon.com Inc. said Thursday it paid a whopping $40 million to Soverain Software LLC to settle a patent-infringement lawsuit filed in January 2004 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. Chicago-based Soverain filed suit against the online retailer alleging that that Amazon's Web site infringed several of the company's patents on network sales systems and Internet server access control and monitoring systems. Seattle-based Amazon said in a document filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission that it expects to record a previously unanticipated charge of up to $40 million in third quarter. An amended lawsuit filed in October 2004 by Soverain alleged that Amazon.com infringed on two additional patents. Shares of Amazon.com rose 32 cents, or 0.7 percent, to $45.08 in early trading today on the Nasdaq Stock Market. Today's news follows Amazon's recent rumors about it going into the online digital music business. News reports from the Associated Press (AP) say the online retailer is planning to open an online digital music store by the end of this year. Despite its crowdedness, the market seems like one with a good promising future. The wide availability of easily portable mp3 file playing devices such as ipods and all-in-one mobile PCs will push the need for better quality downloadable music files than what's available for free. Amazon.com, Inc. http//www.amazon.com Johanne Torres is contributing editor for TMCnet. To see more articles by Johanne Torres, please visit: http://www.tmcnet.com/tmcnet/columnists/columnist.aspx?id=100006&nm=Johanne% 20Torres |