Microsoft Can't Sell Word: Judge

By Harry Kimball,  Newser Staff
Posted Aug 12, 2009 2:02 PM CDT
Microsoft Can't Sell Word: Judge
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer.   (AP Photo)

A Texas district court judge has ruled in favor of a Canadian software company and issued an injunction barring Microsoft from selling copies of its Word program, which can read and write XML files, the Seattle Post-Intelligencer reports. XML capability is central to Microsoft Word; i4i claims the company infringed on a patent. The ruling in east Texas, a hotbed of patent law, also awards i4i $290 million in damages.

“We are disappointed by the court's ruling,” a Microsoft spokesman says. “We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We will appeal the verdict.” (More Microsoft stories.)

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