Posted 09/04/09 at 06:38:30 PM by Pulkit Chandna

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.

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Posted 08/21/09 at 08:28:04 AM by Pulkit Chandna

Upholding i4i’s patent infringement claim against Microsoft, a US Federal court judge placed an injunction on Microsoft Word on August 11, 2009. Judge Leonard Davis ordered that Microsoft pay the Canadian company i4i $290 million in damages and stop the sale of Word in the US, within 60 days of the pronouncement of the order, until the dispute is fully resolved. Microsoft Word’s default file format Office Open XML is at the epicenter of Microsoft’s dispute with i4i. The XML-based file format infringes i4i’s US patent number 5787449.

On Tuesday, Microsoft filed an appeal against the injunction. It is seeking a stay on the injunction, which it believes could cause "irreparable harm.” It has warned that the ban could force it to stop the sale of Microsoft Office for many months to come.

“Microsoft and its distributors face the imminent possibility of a massive disruption in their sales. If left undisturbed, the district court’s injunction will inflict irreparable harm on Microsoft by potentially keeping the centerpiece of its product line out of the market for months. The injunction would block not only the distribution of Word, but also of the entire Office suite, which contains Word and other popular programs," the company’s filing reads. Although Microsoft can take corrective steps by disabling the XML feature, it will have to cough up a lot of money for that exercise.

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