LeMaster Daniels acquires CPA firm

Spokane-based CPA firm LeMaster Daniels announced Monday that it has acquired Bellevue-based accounting firm Abramson Pendergast & Co. A LeMaster Daniels news release said the purchase makes the Spokane company the second-largest Washington-based CPA firm.

The joining of the two companies was effective Nov. 1, the release said.

LeMaster Daniels was founded in 1908 and has 13 offices in Washington and Idaho with more than 280 employees and annual revenue of $36 million, the release said.

Rob Abramson, managing shareholder of Abramson Pendergast, founded his firm in 1978, joining with John Pendergast in 1994. Abramson Pendergast has 40 employees and six shareholders and generates $6.5 million in annual revenue.

“LeMaster Daniels has sought to expand our services west of the Cascade Mountains for some time,” said CEO Scott Dietzen in a statement. He added that the company plans to use Abramson Pendergast’s “well-established organization to develop a strong presence in the Puget Sound area.”

SEATTLE

Microsoft ordered to pay $140 million

Microsoft Corp. must pay more than $140 million for infringing on software patents owned by a Michigan-based technology company, a federal appeals court has ruled.

Z4 Technologies Inc. sued Microsoft and Autodesk Inc., maker of drafting software, in 2004, claiming the technology they used to activate newly installed software and deter piracy infringed on patents created and owned by David Colvin, the owner of z4.

Commerce Township, Mich.-based z4 argued that Microsoft’s Windows XP and Office 2003 suite of productivity software used its patented method of asking users to supply two passwords, or authorization codes, before they could fully use new software.

In April 2006, a federal jury in East Texas ordered Microsoft to pay $115 million to z4, plus attorney fees and $25 million for willful patent infringement. Microsoft appealed the decision.