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Microsoft to pay $290 mn in Word case
A US court of appeals on Tuesday barred Microsoft from selling certain versions of its popular Word programme and ordered it to pay $290 million (Rs 13,537 crore) in a patent dispute with a Canadian company.
A US court of appeals on Tuesday barred Microsoft from selling certain versions of its popular Word programme and ordered it to pay $290 million (Rs 13,537 crore) in a patent dispute with a Canadian company.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a jury verdict and lower court ruling in the case filed against the US software giant by Toronto-based i4i Inc nearly three years ago.
"This ruling is clear and convincing evidence that our case was just and right, and that Microsoft willfully infringed our patent," i4i founder Michel Vulpe said in a statement.
"This is what we've been looking for since March 2007," added i4i chairman Loudon Owen.
A US District Court judge in Texas had on August 12 upheld both a jury ruling that Microsoft's Word violates an XML patent held by i4i, and the award of more than $290 million in damages and interest.
The judge also issued an injunction that bans Microsoft from selling versions of Word that infringe on the patented technology, which Microsoft dismissed on Tuesday as a "little-used feature."
Word uses XML, or Extensible Markup Language, to open .XML, .DOCX, and .DOCM files.
Microsoft indicated that it may file further appeals and said in a statement it was "moving quickly" to comply with the injunction on selling certain Word products, which takes effect on January 11, 2010.
Microsoft stressed that the injunction only refers to US sales of versions of Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007 and said it has already "put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products."
"Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007, with this feature removed, available for US sale and distribution by the injunction date," Microsoft said.
"Beta versions of Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010, which are available now for downloading, do not contain the technology covered by the injunction," Microsoft added.
"While we are moving to address the injunction issue, we are also considering our legal options," Microsoft said.
