An Australian inventor, who was set to reap the lion's share of a mammoth $US388 million ($445 million) damages award from Microsoft, is now set to get nothing after the US judge hearing the case decided to ignore the jury's decision and hand victory to Microsoft.

Ric Richardson, who divides his time between Northern Rivers in NSW and California, is the founder of Uniloc, which sued Microsoft in 2003 for violating its patent relating to technology designed to deter software piracy.

Ric Richardson.

The company alleged Microsoft earned billions of dollars by using the technology in its Windows XP and Office programs.

In April, a Rhode Island jury found Microsoft had violated the patent and told Microsoft to pay the company $US388 million, one of the largest patent jury awards in US history.