MICROSOFT HAS said it will tweak its Word application to remove a feature judged to be a breach of patent, ensuring it will be able to continue selling one of its most widely-used programs.
The world’s largest software company made the announcement shortly after a US court of appeals upheld a $290 million jury verdict against it for infringing a patent held by a small Canadian software firm.
The court also affirmed an injunction that prevents Microsoft from selling versions of its Word program which contain the offending software, set to take effect from January 11th, 2010. Older versions of Word are not affected.
Microsoft said it was taking steps to remove the feature from Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007 put on sale from that date.
The disputed patent relates to the use of XML, used for manipulating text, in the 2007 versions of Word.
Microsoft described it yesterday as a “little-used feature”.
However, Microsoft did not rule out further appeals. “While we are moving quickly to address the injunction issue, we are also considering our legal options,” said Kevin Kutz, a Microsoft spokesman.
He said that could include a request for a rehearing by a full panel of judges at the appeals court or a request for a review by the US Supreme Court.
I4i, the Toronto-based software company which owns the infringed patent, welcomed the ruling. “I4i is especially pleased with the court’s decision to uphold the injunction, an important step in protecting the property rights of small inventors,” said Michel Vulpe, founder and co-inventor of i4i, in a statement.
The ruling may signal the end-game of a long-running dispute between Microsoft and Toronto-based i4i. On August 12th, a federal US district court in Texas ruled in favour of i4i against Microsoft for infringing the XML patent in the 2003 and 2007 versions of Word. The jury slapped more than $290 million in damages on Microsoft. – (Reuters)
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