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Microsoft on Thursday lost its final appeal in i4i's patent lawsuit against it over patents. The US Supreme Court upheld the verdict that Microsoft had copied i4i technology for XML code in Office and owed about $290 million. Microsoft said the ruling was "not what we had hoped for" but instead reinterpreted the loss as a proof of its call for patent defense improvement.
The US Supreme Court at a session on Monday will hear Microsoft call to change patent law in a way that could help both the Windows developer and many other technology firms fend off patent troll lawsuits. The motion will attempt to change a rule that requires a defending company provide absolute, definitive evidence that a patent is invalid in order to avoid a guilty verdict. Under Microsoft's proposal, courts could invalidate patents only by requiring that the majority of evidence supports rejecting the patent.
Although the Supreme Court has yet to hear formal arguments in the patent infringement dispute between Microsoft and Canadian developer i4i, the government appears to be supporting earlier rulings against the Redmond-based software giant. Acting Solicitor General Neal Katyal has filed an amicus brief that backs the lower court's decision.
The Supreme Court may hear an appeal by Microsoft in its long-running patent dispute with Canadian software company i4i. According to a Monday report, the software giant may not have to pay the $290 million it was ordered to do so earlier in the year. Back in April, an appeal was ruled out. The case dates back to 2007.
Wi-LAN on Thursday continued its practices of using lawsuits in place of business by filing a new complaint against a large portion of the technology industry. The suit alleges that major electronics manufacturers, including Acer, Apple, Dell, LG, Sony, Toshiba and 12 other distinct companies, are violating a patent relating to Bluetooth use. Their cellphones, computers and network devices all copy the technology, the Canadian-based accuser said.
Microsoft in a US federal court today was denied an appeal against the $290 million verdict against it following i4i's patent lawsuit. The decision forces Microsoft to either pay the promised damages or else take its case to the Supreme Court. Representatives haven't said if the company plans to follow this route.
Microsoft suffered its second legal setback in as many days on Friday with word of a second patent lawsuit from VirnetX. The accuser hopes to expand on the $105.8 million fine against Microsoft by claiming that Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 also infringe on the same patents for VPN networking that were the subject of the prior lawsuit. VirnetX didn't specify what it hoped for in damages but characterized the second complaint as plugging a gap that would otherwise exempt newer versions of Windows.
Microsoft has suffered its second legal blow this year with a loss in a patent infringement lawsuit. Judge Leonard Davis ordered the Windows developer to pay $105.8 million for allegedly violating two VirnetX patents for VPN networks, including "transparently" creating a computer-to-computer connection and using a secure DNS server to create a link. The technology had supposedly been used in platforms from Windows XP through to Vista as well as Office and services like Windows Messenger.
The Federal Court of Appeals has upheld a jury verdict against Microsoft in the patent infringement case filed by i4i, according to The Inquirer. Despite Microsoft's confidence that it would win the appeal, judges reaffirmed the earlier decision.
Word for the Mac will soon be patched in order to comply with a recent court ruling, says Microsoft. In an unusual turn the update will actually remove functionality, specifically some custom XML support. "While Office for Mac products were not accused of infringement, we are changing the product to allay any potential concerns about compliance with the [court] injunction," explains Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz.
Microsoft has acted quickly on its promise to keep Office on shelves by pushing an Office update to computer builders. The supplement, intended for an OEM (original equipment manufacturer) version of Office 2007 from October, removes the support for reading custom-generated XML within DOCX, DOCM and pure XML files. It should continue to open files with the code inside but will no longer show the code to comply with patent infringement claims.
Microsoft on Tuesday lost its appeal against a $290 million infringement verdict that threatens to remove Word and the Office suite from the market. The US Court of Appeals has upheld a verdict that claims XML code in Word 2003 and 2007 violates patents developed by Toronto, Canada-based i4i for XML plugins. It also removes a temporary stay and would ban all sales of infringing copies of Word as of January 11th unless changes are made by Microsoft.
Microsoft and i4i are once again squaring off in court in their ongoing legal battle over a patent regarding custom XML used in Microsoft Word is continuing, with both sides confident of their eventual victory. At a recent appeal, i4i made a statement that said Microsoft used the same arguments it has made unsuccessfully at the original trial.
The US federal Court of Appeals today granted Microsoft a temporary stay on an injunction that would have banned sales of Word until the conclusion of an appeal against the successful lawsuit filed by Canadian firm i4i. Originally, the developer would have had to stop sales on October 10th and would have forced Microsoft to shut down sales of virtually all copies of Office unless it could plead its case.
PC makers Dell and HP have joined Microsoft in its fight against i4i, a Canadian software developer that was responsible for an injunction of sales of the Microsoft Word. Dell and HP are among Microsoft's biggest customers, and are helping Microsoft to overturn the injunction in front of an Eastern District Court of Texas judge. In a brief that was joined by HP, Dell asked the judge to reconsider its order or at least delay the injunction by 120 days. The injunction is scheduled to take place in mid-October.
A Texas federal jury has ordered Microsoft Corp to pay out $200 million in damages to Toronto-based software maker i4i Limited for allegedly infringing a patent, the software giant announced on Wednesday. Microsoft, which is regularly at the receiving end of such lawsuits, went on to say it is planning on appealing the verdict, as it believes the award is unsupported by the evidence.
