The Federal Circuit on Tuesday, nixed a lower court's decision to vacate a $388 million jury verdict against Microsoft Corp., and granted a new trial on damages in Uniloc USA Inc.'s patent suit over software security technology. A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit found that Microsoft had infringed a patent held by Uniloc and that the patent was valid, rejecting a pair of judgments as a matter of law by Judge William Smith of the U.S. District Court for the District of Rhode Island. The appeals court did not toss out the all the district court's decisions, however, granting a new trial on damages. "My take is that Uniloc is ecstatic about the court's finding that Microsoft infringed and the patent is not invalid," Uniloc lead attorney Donald Dunner, partner at Finnegan, said Tuesday.