In an interesting turn of events, Seattle PI is reporting that a Texas judge has ordered Microsoft to cease all sales of its famed word processor in the US within 60 days. No, seriously. The injunction came as the result of a patent dispute between Canadian software company i4i and Microsoft regarding the processes with which Word handles XML files. This isn’t the first victory for i4i over the Washingtonian beast either — back in May a court awarded the company $200 million in damages as it found Microsoft had knowingly infringed on the same patent. That judgment is still being appealed and of course Microsoft isn’t going to stop selling Word any time soon as a result of this new injunction. In the end, Redmond will appeal related rulings as long as it can and then it’ll cut a check and be done with the matter. Oh yes, it will be a large check.
[Via Mashable]
