Microsoft and i4i are once again squaring off in court in their ongoing legal battle over a patent regarding custom XML used in Microsoft Word is continuing, with both sides confident of their eventual victory. At a recent appeal, i4i made a statement that said Microsoft used the same arguments it has made unsuccessfully at the original trial.
The US federal Court of Appeals today granted Microsoft a temporary stay on an injunction that would have banned sales of Word until the conclusion of an appeal against the successful lawsuit filed by Canadian firm i4i. Originally, the developer would have had to stop sales on October 10th and would have forced Microsoft to shut down sales of virtually all copies of Office unless it could plead its case.
PC makers Dell and HP have joined Microsoft in its fight against i4i, a Canadian software developer that was responsible for an injunction of sales of the Microsoft Word. Dell and HP are among Microsoft's biggest customers, and are helping Microsoft to overturn the injunction in front of an Eastern District Court of Texas judge. In a brief that was joined by HP, Dell asked the judge to reconsider its order or at least delay the injunction by 120 days. The injunction is scheduled to take place in mid-October.
A Texas federal jury has ordered Microsoft Corp to pay out $200 million in damages to Toronto-based software maker i4i Limited for allegedly infringing a patent, the software giant announced on Wednesday. Microsoft, which is regularly at the receiving end of such lawsuits, went on to say it is planning on appealing the verdict, as it believes the award is unsupported by the evidence.
