All the latest UK technology news, reviews and analysis

Microsoft banned from selling Word

by Rosalie Marshall

More from this author

12 Aug 2009

Comment: 1

  • Tweet this
Gavel
Microsoft is likely to appeal the court verdict

Microsoft has been prohibited from selling flagship software offering Word in the US because of successful legal action taken against the company in Texas by i4i.

The prosecuting company supplies Word XML authoring software and has insisted that Microsoft has infringed its 1998 patent (number 5,787,499) which allows customers to read XML programming language in order to customise document formats.

Embedded in Microsoft Word is the capability for users to read and write XML documents.

In March 2007 i4i filed the original lawsuit and in May this year the US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas found the Redmond giant guilty of infringing the patent and fined Microsoft $200m (£122m).

Now the same court has ruled Microsoft has to stop selling Word in 60 days.

Microsoft could not be reached for comment. However, according to The Seattle PI’s Microsoft Blog, Microsoft representative Kevin Jutz said in a statement: " We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We will appeal the verdict."

In the unlikely event that Microsoft does not manage to appeal the verdict and the decision stands, it could build a work around for the problem or remove the offending code.

Do you agree?

 

Add your comment

We won't publish your address
By submitting a comment you agree to abide by our Terms & Conditions. Your comment will be moderated before publication.

Poll

IT priorities for 2012

What is the most important IT priority for your company this year?

99%

0%

1%

0%

0%

Connect with V3.co.uk

Sign up to our daily or weekly newsletters

Accurev

Top 5 software development challenges

This paper focuses on a series of best practices and techniques for development teams looking to improve their software development processes

Talend

Rubbish in, rubbish enterprise

Why good data management at all levels is essential in the modern business (video, 6mins)

IT Support Engineer / Analyst ( EPOS, Linux,SQL ) Hertfordshire

Support Engineer / Analyst ( 1st & 2nd line, EPOS...

Accounting Business Analyst/ Systems Accountant Bank London

Accounting Business Analyst/Systems Accountant (Back...

FX Technical Implementation Consultant FX FOREX Trading London

FX Technical Implementation Consultant/Business Analyst...

Graduate IT Application Analyst Banking London

Graduate IT Application Analyst required by my banking...

To send to more than one email address, simply separate each address with a comma.