Microsoft attempts to block Word ban

Microsoft has filed an emergency motion to block an order that would ban sales of Microsoft Word in the US within 60 days and force it to pay fines of almost $300m.

Details of the motion are sparse because it was filed under seal in the US District Court for Eastern Texas but the expectation is that Microsoft intends to fight to overturn the initial ruling by Judge Leonard Davis on 11 August.

The motion was filed on 14 August, three days after the ruling that Microsoft had wilfully infringed a patent held by Toronto-based i4i.

Details from Judge Davis’ ruling show an additional $40m fine was levied because Microsoft’s counsel made improper arguments in spite of the court’s warnings by “arguing that it was somehow improper for a non-practicing patent owner to sue for money damages. He further persisted in improperly trying to equate i4i’s infringement case with the current national banking crisis implying that i4i was a banker seeking a “bailout.”

Microsoft claimed i4i had failed to produce legally sufficient evidence that the software giant knew Word was infringing its patent, but i4i presented evidence that Microsoft was provided “with an explanation of i4i’s patented technology along with the patent number starting in April 2001 and continuing through 2003”.

In addition, i4i presented an internal Microsoft email sent in January 2003 “containing i4i’s product name, the patent number, and a statement from a Microsoft employee that i4i’s technology would be made ‘obsolete’ by its Word product”.

Founded in 1993, Toronto-based i4i describes itself as “at the fore-front of applying XML to the problem of collaborative content” and claims to have assisted “some of the most successful organisations, across a wide range of industries, with their XML content development and management”.