Patent lawsuits can go either way. The near-dead telecom equipment company Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) won the lottery by besting Microsoft (MSFT) in a suit over the big software company’s use of MP3, and audio format used in the Microsoft Windows Media Player.

The envelop please. ALU gets paid over $1.5 billion in damages. Of course, Microsoft will appeal, but the award is more money that Alcatel-Lucent is likely to make over the next decade.

Douglas A. McIntyre