MS hit with $1.5bn fine.

[Maximus]

A previous judgement awarding Alcatel-Lucent $1.5bn has been upheld by a Federal Judge despite Microsoft's appeals.

Link

While $1.5bn may not seem much when put into context of the cash-pile that MS is currently sitting on, if this fine is coupled with the upcoming EU fine of $800m investors may start to worry and call for loss-making ventures (Xbox/Zune) to be cut. Also I am pretty sure that MS have got a couple of other big settlements coming up which will add another $1-2bn to the sum. So losing money on the Xbox will be increasingly difficult to justify, and secret payments (to Universal, Rockstar, Capcom etc...) will have to stop.

Interesting times eh?