$1.5 billion case lost by Microsoft

Microsoft lost a case for $1.5 billion in damages for ignoring patent ownership in the case of MP3 (an almost free audio compression technology). Makes me wonder what the damages should be for a technology that is worth up to a quarter of all their sales?

clipped from yro.slashdot.org "A U.S. federal jury found that Microsoft Corp. href="http://www.cioinsight.com/article2/0,1540,2097780,00.asp">infringed audio patents held by Alcatel-Lucent and should pay $1.52 billion in damages, Microsoft said Thursday. The news comes after reports that U.S. Supreme Court justices expressed doubts about whether Microsoft Corp. href="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2097387,00.asp">should be liable for infringing AT&T Inc. patents in Windows software sold overseas."