Bad news for Mr. Softee. A patent infringement suit filed by Toronto-based i4i Inc. has resulted in a U.S. federal judge effectively banning
Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ:MSFT) from selling Word -- a key program in its
cash-cow Office application suite.
Judge Leonard Davis, of the
U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ordered a
permanent injunction that "prohibits Microsoft from selling or
importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have
the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files)
containing custom XML," according to a
statement by plaintiff i4i. XML
is a programming language that lets users customize the format of a
file so that it's readable across a wide range of different
word-processing programs.
The injunction applies to custom XML in Word 2003 and Word 2007.
The
court also ruled that Microsoft would have to pay roughly $290 million
in damages to the Canadian software firm for knowingly infringing on
one of its patents in Word and the Windows Vista operating system. As Bloomberg reports, the judge's decision was a
sharp rebuff to Microsoft's request that he overturn a $200 million verdict a jury returned against Microsoft in May.
I4i
describes itself as a designer and developer of collaborative content technologies. No indication on its Web site whether the unusual name is meant to evoke the
ancient prescription for harsh justice, but Microsoft may be wondering about that.
Microsoft has 60 days until the injunction kicks in. Whether it will settle or fight on isn't clear. -
George White
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