Pair lose patent claim to z4

Microsoft and Autodesk have been fined $133m (£78m) for infringing two software patents.

The lawsuit was filed by Michigan-based technology company z4, which owns patents on Office and AutoCad programs.

A jury in the US District Court in East Texas took 19 hours to reach a decision following a six-day trial. The ruling will see Microsoft pay $115m and Autodesk $18m.

Microsoft said in a statement that it still felt it had not infringed the patents and that it may appeal the ruling.