Microsoft ordered to stop selling Word software

Software giant Microsoft has been ruled to stop selling its Microsoft Word program in the United States by a Texas district court on the grounds of a patent violation, and pay over $200 million in damages.

But the Microsoft plans to appeal the ruling, saying the evidence presented to the court is in the company’s favour.

Canadian software company i4i filed a lawsuit in 2007 against Microsoft, in which it alleged the company violated a 1998 patent regarding its XML coding language which is used to manipulate a digital document’s internal structure.

The 2003 and 2007 versions of Microsoft Word use the XML coding technology to read and create files that use the XML, DOCX and DOCM extensions.

A complaint filed by i4i in 2007 read that Microsoft infringed its patent by “by making, using, selling, offering to sell, and/or importing in or into the United States, without authority, Word 2003, Word 2007, .NET Framework, and Windows Vista”.

Judge Leonard Davis of the US District Court of Eastern Texas ruled that Microsoft’s use of the XML technology in this manner violated i4i’s patent, and ordered the company to halt all sales of Microsoft Word within 60 days, as well as pay out $240 million in damages.

Davis said in the ruling that Microsoft’s software had “unlawfully infringed” on the patent.

Removal of Microsoft Word from sale could be a big hit to the company, as the software brought in $US3 billion for the company during 2008-09.

“If they (Microsoft) decide to appeal, we will certainly follow it carefully and we will continue down the path to ensure that the judgment is upheld,” i4i chairman Loudon Owen said in a statement.

“The verdict stops Microsoft from selling Word 2003 or Word 2007 with our technology in it within 60 days. So they have to either remove our technology or stop selling it.”

“We are disappointed by the court’s ruling,” Microsoft spokesman Kevin Kutz said in a statement. “We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We will appeal the verdict.”

While the judge has ruled for Microsoft Word to be entirely banned from sale, the ruling only refers to the use of a certain type of decrypting technology. Some tech analysts have pointed out that a “patch” could be administered to solve the problem, without the company having to remove the program from sale.