The Supreme Court ruled 4/30/07 that Microsoft did not infringe components of AT&T's patented speech-processing computer. The Court interpreted specific statutory language that prohibits someone from supplying from the United States, for combination abroad, a patented invention's components. Because Microsoft does not export from the United States the actual copies installed on foreign computers, but rather the copies are made abroad from a master version, the Court ruled that it does not "supply" from the United States the "components" under 35 U.S.C. ยง 271(f).
As long as the copies of the software are made abroad, they fall outside the American patent prohibition. However, AT&T can pursue patent remedies for that conduct in the jurisdiction in which it occurred. The Court suggested that any change in the result should be made by Congress.