Alcatel is acquiring Lucent, pending regulatory approval, for $11.8 billion. Lucent Technologies is the spin-off of what used to be Bell Labs, prior to the breakup of American monopolist Ma Bell, during America's deregulation spasm that began in the early 1980s, resulting in consumer pillage in the telecommunications and cable TV businesses, as well as the ruination of the airline industry. Of course, the government has, since 2001, in knee-jerk reaction to its own woeful incompetence, assailed the airline travel business with its moronic Gestapo security system at airports.

In two separately filed complaints, Alcatel is suing Microsoft in the Eastern District of Texas for infringing seven patents: 6,339,830 & 6,874,090, covering user authentication over a network; 6,661,799, related to peer-to-peer communication; 6,823,390 for application communication; 6,112,226, 5,864,682, and 5,659,539, covering digital video processing. Alcatel's complaint, only the first shot in what promises to be a long-fought battle, was sketchy. Basically, Alcatel seeks another payday.

Alcatel sued Foundry Networks, a direct competitor, asserting 6,339,830 & 6,874,090; 6,697,329, 5,506,840, 5,461,615, 6,882,647, & 5,521,923, covering network routing and packeting; 5,301,192, for a peculiar storage technique; and 6,865,153, for network quality of service. There is overwhelming anticipatory prior art for these patents, at least one of which is rather ludicrous in claiming trivialities that were known almost 20 years earlier.

In response to Alcatel's aggression, Foundry filed an antitrust suit against Alcatel, accusing Alcatel of duping IEEE, which is easily duped, into adopting an industry-wide standard without disclosing Alcatel's patent ownership of '830 and '090. Alcatel's actions were in apparent disregard for IEEE's bylaws, and, Foundry asserts, constituted fraud. In essence, Foundry claims, Alcatel set an illegal trap.

Cisco was one of Alcatel's victims. Although Cisco responded to Alcatel's patent aggression with its own antitrust action, alleging Alcatel of sham litigation, with Alcatel admitting during that matter that Alcatel uses "litigation as a deterrent to competition," Cisco cut its loses and settled, as have other defendants.

While other parties have folded before Alcatel's onslaught, Foundry Networks deserves praise for fighting to expose the invalid patents, deceptive and anticompetitive practices, that Alcatel apparently repeatedly employs to strong-arm other companies.

An independent observer has commented that "[T]he legal strategy such as Alcatel's will have a chilling effect on innovation. It may be a good strategy from Alcatel's perspective, but not a good strategy from society's perspective."