Finding that Microsoft Corp. willfully infringed a Canadian company's patent related to aspects of the widely used "extensible markup language," a federal judge in Texas has assessed $40 million in exemplary damages against the software giant.
The award is in addition to $300 million in damages that Microsoft has already been ordered to pay Toronto, Ontario-based i4i Technologies. Additionally, the judge permanently enjoined Microsoft from selling copies of its popular Word word-processing program that infringe i4i's patent.
Last May a Texas federal jury found in favor of i4i on its claims that Microsoft willfully infringed its patent on using XML to format the structure of a document independently of the document's text.
According to published reports, Microsoft has vowed to appeal the rulings and maintains that the patent at issue is invalid.
Because of Microsoft's substantial investment in XML, however, it is widely believed that the company eventually will settle out by licensing i4i's patent.
XML is an outgrowth of standard generalized markup language. SGML was developed in the 1980s as a standardized document-exchange format. Its intended use mainly was for large law projects and in academia. As a simplified subset of SGML, XML has grown into much broader use than its predecessor.
The case began in March 2007, when i4i sued Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. It alleged the defendant willfully infringed its patent for a "method and system for manipulating the architecture and the content of a document separately from each other."
The Eastern District of Texas is seen by some as a plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction. It is regularly featured on the American Tort Reform Association's list of "judicial hellholes."
In 2003 Microsoft began using XML in its Office document formats for better interoperability across its product lines.
In the past only Microsoft's Office programs, such as Word and Excel, could read and write those programs' files. Using XML as a format, rather than proprietary binary formats as before, allows non-Office software to read and generate Office documents.
Microsoft also has submitted its XML Word document format, known as Office Open XML, to the International Standards Organization to be adopted as an international standard for such documents. The standard would be known as ISO 29500.
The lawsuit alleged that Microsoft's use of XML codes known as "metacode maps" to format the layout of a document, as opposed to the document's text, violates the patent.
Following an eight-day trial the jury agreed that Microsoft willfully infringed i4i's patent.
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The award is in addition to $300 million in damages that Microsoft has already been ordered to pay Toronto, Ontario-based i4i Technologies. Additionally, the judge permanently enjoined Microsoft from selling copies of its popular Word word-processing program that infringe i4i's patent.
Last May a Texas federal jury found in favor of i4i on its claims that Microsoft willfully infringed its patent on using XML to format the structure of a document independently of the document's text.
According to published reports, Microsoft has vowed to appeal the rulings and maintains that the patent at issue is invalid.
Because of Microsoft's substantial investment in XML, however, it is widely believed that the company eventually will settle out by licensing i4i's patent.
XML is an outgrowth of standard generalized markup language. SGML was developed in the 1980s as a standardized document-exchange format. Its intended use mainly was for large law projects and in academia. As a simplified subset of SGML, XML has grown into much broader use than its predecessor.
The case began in March 2007, when i4i sued Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas. It alleged the defendant willfully infringed its patent for a "method and system for manipulating the architecture and the content of a document separately from each other."
The Eastern District of Texas is seen by some as a plaintiff-friendly jurisdiction. It is regularly featured on the American Tort Reform Association's list of "judicial hellholes."
In 2003 Microsoft began using XML in its Office document formats for better interoperability across its product lines.
In the past only Microsoft's Office programs, such as Word and Excel, could read and write those programs' files. Using XML as a format, rather than proprietary binary formats as before, allows non-Office software to read and generate Office documents.
Microsoft also has submitted its XML Word document format, known as Office Open XML, to the International Standards Organization to be adopted as an international standard for such documents. The standard would be known as ISO 29500.
The lawsuit alleged that Microsoft's use of XML codes known as "metacode maps" to format the layout of a document, as opposed to the document's text, violates the patent.
Following an eight-day trial the jury agreed that Microsoft willfully infringed i4i's patent.
Source
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