US District Judge William Smith has overturned the verdict of the US District Court judge in Rhode Island jury to give software biggie Microsoft its second colossal win this month in yet another patent infringement lawsuit - this one filed by an Australian investor Ric Richardson!

The jury's verdict, to which the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals agreed with last September 11, favored Richardson, who was almost likely to reap a major part the mammoth $388 million damage award, tosses out by the court against Microsoft for the alleged infringement of the keycode-driven software activation.

However, Judge Smith not only vacated the jury's verdict and turned it around in favor of Microsoft, but also termed the investor's Uniloc-related arguments as preposterous.

Overturning the jury's verdict, Judge Smith said that it "lacked a grasp of the issues before it and reached a finding without a legally sufficient basis."

Incidentally, Judge Smith, who has been dealing with the lawsuit for some time, he had earlier too handed the win to Microsoft in 2006. But that decision was turned down by the appeals court which opined that Judge Smith's ruling should have come after a due hearing from a jury.

Meanwhile, a visibly flabbergasted Richardson said that he was more interested in seeing that the 'ethically right thing was done,' rather than the monetary aspect of the patent infringement!