Microsoft wins stay of injunction

Jake Widman
Saturday, 05 September 2009 00:19

IT Industry - Strategy

That's one for Microsoft, as a U.S. Court of Appeals ruled that the company doesn't have to stop selling Word until its appeal is over. The original order would have forced Word off the U.S. market as of October 10.

The ruling is the latest development in the Microsoft vs. i4i patent case , in which Microsoft was found guilty of infringing on i4i's patent on a method of manipulating custom XML.

The judge in the original trial, held in Texas, ordered Microsoft to pay i4i US$290 million and, more importantly, to stop selling Word 2003 and 2007 -- the infringing products -- by mid October.

Microsoft immediately filed an appeal of that ruling, but also appealed to the Court or Appeals for the Federal Circuit, which has nationwide jurisdiction in patent cases.

That court lifted the injunction on sales, saying that Microsoft can keep selling Word during the appeals process.

The appeals process has already begun with Microsoft's opening salvo last week and i4i's response due September 7. The appeal hearing is set to get underway September 23.

"Microsoft's scare tactics about the consequences of the injunction cannot shield it from the imminent review of the case by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal," i4i chairman Loudon Owen told Canadian Press.

"i4i is confident that the Final Judgment in favour of i4i, which included a finding of wilful patent infringement by Microsoft and an injunction against Microsoft Word, was the correct decision and that i4i will prevail on the appeal."