Word Back Off the Market?
Last year, a court ruled that Microsoft Word violated a Canadian company's patent and must be pulled from the market. Microsoft appealed the decision and, as a result, got a temporary stay of execution.
Right before Christmas, Microsoft lost its appeal, and not only has to pay some $290 million in damages to i4i, but has to stop selling Word by Jan. 11 unless Microsoft can somehow rejigger the software so it no longer violates i4i patents relating to opening .XML files.
Microsoft claims the patent relates to a "little used feature" that can be easily removed. I guess we'll find out in a week.
Posted by Doug Barney on January 04, 2010