Microsoft Will Pay $60 Million to SPX

Microsoft Corp. agreed to pay $60 million to SPX Corp.’s Imagexpo unit to end a legal fight over a patent for real-time conferencing software.

A jury in Richmond, Va., in November told Microsoft to pay Imagexpo $62.3 million for using without permission the company’s patented technology in the NetMeeting Whiteboard features in Microsoft programs. That amount could have been tripled because the jury determined that Microsoft’s use of Imagexpo’s invention was intentional.

Microsoft claimed it independently developed the software and was seeking to invalidate the SPX patent in post-trial hearings scheduled for February.

Shares of Microsoft fell 11 cents to $27.04 on Nasdaq.