Lucent, a network technology firm, have announced a new filing in their patent battle with this week, once again alleging that video decoding functionality within the inhibits technology trademarked by them back in 1993. Apparently, the MPEG2 decoder within the console infringes patent 5,227,878, something Microsoft denies. A court case on the same matter floundered last year on a technicality related to a spelling mistake on the original patent filing, but this has now been corrected, allowing Lucent to once again sue Microsoft.

Lucent's fresh filing notes that Microsoft have so far refused to settle the matter beyond the courts, and are demanding that the 360 console be withdrawn from sale. Of course, this is the usual way of such big-money court cases, and in all likelihood this matter with be resolved with a cash pay-out from Redmond's ample coffers.

Lucent are hoping for a jury trial to resolve the issue. We'll keep you posted on their efforts.

By Luke Guttridge