Judge Temporarily Suspends Word Sales Ban
Judge Temporarily Suspends Word Sales Ban
Posted 09/04/2009 at 3:38pm
| by Pulkit Chandna
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A federal appeals court yesterday provided much-needed succor to Microsoft in its high-stakes legal duel with Canadian firm i4i. The latest judgement temporarily suspends the permanent injunction on the sale of Microsoft Word in its current patent-violating avatar. Microsoft’s Canadian adversary was granted the injunction last month by U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Davis. The Judge had found Word’s default file format, Office Open XML, to be in violation of i4i’s US patent number 5787449.
"Without prejudicing the ultimate determination of this case by the merits panel, the court determines based upon the motion papers submitted that Microsoft has met its burden to obtain a stay of the injunction," the court said.
After Judge Davis had granted the injunction to i41, Microsoft evinced fear that it could lead to "irreparable harm.” It most dreaded the fact that the injunction could keep the “centerpiece of its product line out of the market for months.” Dell and HP had also backed Microsoft in their respective amicus curiae (friend-of-the-court brief) filings.
Image Credit: SknVibes
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Hangdog42
September 06, 2009 at 9:08am
i4i isn't a patent troll as they actually make and sell a product based on their patents. Microsoft stole their technology and are using it without compensating i4i. In other words, this is EXACTLY the kind of behavior that i4i SHOULD be suing over.
gendoikari1
September 06, 2009 at 1:40pm
i4i's main products are made to be used in conjunction with MS Word. Word might get pulled due to i4i. They're not patent trolls, just idiots.
n0ctis
September 05, 2009 at 10:59am
You have to love a patent troll company named i4i (an eye for an eye)
________________________________________________________________
.: vires et honos :.
tnrccola
September 04, 2009 at 4:04pm
Isn't this the very court Quinn Norton wrote of in the March, 2009 issue?
gendoikari1
September 04, 2009 at 6:04pm
Yep. There was another column (forgot which) in the same issue that was entitled "Patent Trolls". How prophetic.
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