General Motors Corp’s Hughes Aircraft Co is in line for a big windfall from Uncle Sam: it reports that a US court ruled that 84 geostationary satellites have infringed on a patent for its satellite attitude control system: the US Court of Federal Claims ruled that the spacecraft are valued between $3,600m and $4,000m and Hughes said the ruling determining which birds craft are included in the compensation base is a major milestone in its 27-year effort to get the US government to pay for its taking of the patent; Hughes said the invention was used on every geosynchronous orbit satellite from 1963 to 1974 and on every satellite from 1963 to 1982 that used a solid fuel motor in its transfer to geosynchronous orbit; Hughes wants a royalty of 15% from the government based on a 1965 contract with Comsat Corp, which agreed to pay Hughes 15% of the value of the satellites using the invention by Hughes scientist Donald Williams; the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration had contested the patent.
