Business : Court Orders Ban on Microsoft Word Sales

A US federal court has ordered Microsoft to pay over $290m (£175m) for wilfully infringing on a patent by Canadian firm i4i. The patent relates to the use of XML, a mark-up language that allows formatting of text and makes files readable across different programs.

XML is integral to Microsoft's flagship word processing software Word. Texas district court judge Leonard Davis also filed an injunction preventing Microsoft from selling Word. The row specifically relates to the use of Extensible Mark-up Language, or XML, documents.

Earlier this year, the court found in a jury trial that Microsoft had infringed the patent and awarded i4i $200m (£120m). In the latest ruling, the court ordered Microsoft to pay $40m (£24m) for the wilful nature of the infringement and interest on the amounts totalling more than $40m.

Microsoft has 60 days to comply with the injunction but said in a statement that it will appeal the ruling. "We are disappointed by the court's ruling," said Microsoft spokesperson Kevin Kutz. "We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We will appeal the verdict."
(Source: BBC Online)

Our Perspective:
It is interesting to see how things turn out to develop. Never knew people could get into trouble using XML in their systems. OpenOffice also uses the XML extensively, but it remains to be seen if any action will be taken against OpenOffice, which is a free software.