Shortly before the weekend, a US federal court slapped Microsoft with USD 1.52 billion in damage fees payable to France-based Alcatel-Lucent SA for patent infringement on the MP3 audio encoding format it uses for its media player software. Microsoft, which will no doubt appeal the decision, says it has already been paying license fees of some USD 16 million to its own piper in Germany, the Fraunhofer Institute, the "industry-recognized rightful licensor" in the words of Microsoft.

Most notable is the size of the charge and its precedent. If the French are successful in wringing this kind of cash from the biggest kid on the software block, then it is hardly beyond question that the hardware guys are next in line. Hello Apple, I think someone might be sizing up your iPod earnings.