
<A HREF="http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1759,1817141,00.asp?kc=ewnws051805dtx1k0000599">Microsoft illegally took technology</A> used to link spreadsheet data between two of its programs from a Guatemalan inventor, lawyers said during opening statements at a jury trial that started on Tuesday. Carlos Armando Amado said in a lawsuit that he filed for a patent in 1990 for software that links Microsoft's Excel program with its Access database application via a single spreadsheet, and that he unsuccessfully tried to sell it to Microsoft two years later. Amado is seeking damages that could exceed $500 million in the lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court of Central California.