It’s going to get messy between Microsoft and Alcatel-Lucent before it’s over. French-based Alcatel-Lucent is claiming that Microsoft is violating certain patents it holds for video frame coding with the Xbox 360. Microsoft is saying that the claims are invalid because the specific technology Alcatel-Lucent is citing was missing from its patent application. Oops!

The actual patent is fairly technical in nature. This is the third in a five-round battle between the technology companies, and Microsoft has mostly been on the defensive, though its likely it’ll come out swinging this round with its own countersuits to affect a settlement.