<div><p>A US court of appeals upheld a 290-million-dollar verdict against Microsoft on Tuesday in a patent dispute with a Canadian company.</p><p>The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit also upheld an injunction that would ban the US software giant from selling certain versions of its popular Word word processing program that include the patented technology.</p><p>A US District Court judge in Texas on August 12 upheld a jury ruling that Microsoft's Word program violates an XML patent held by Toronto-based i4i Inc. and ordered it to pay more than 290 million dollars in damages and interest.</p><p>Microsoft appealed but the three-judge US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit ruled against the software powerhouse.</p><p>Loudon Owen, i4i's chairman, welcomed the decision. "We couldn't be more pleased with the ruling from the appeals court which upheld the lower court's decision in its entirety," he said in a statement.</p><p>"This is both a vindication for i4i and a war cry for talented inventors whose patents are infringed," Owen said.</p><p>"This ruling is clear and convincing evidence that our case was just and right, and that Microsoft wilfully infringed our patent," added i4i founder Michel Vulpe.</p><p>Microsoft indicated Tuesday it may file further appeals and said in a statement it was "moving quickly" to comply with the injunction on selling certain Word products, which takes effect on January 11, 2010.</p><p>"This injunction applies only to copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007 sold in the US on or after the injunction date of January 11, 2010," the company said. "Copies of these products sold before this date are not affected.</p><p>"With respect to Microsoft Word 2007 and Microsoft Office 2007, we have been preparing for this possibility since the District Court issued its injunction in August 2009 and have put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products," Microsoft said.</p><p>"Therefore, we expect to have copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007, with this feature removed, available for US sale and distribution by the injunction date," Microsoft said.</p><p>"While we are moving quickly to address the injunction issue, we are also considering our legal options," Microsoft said, including further appeals.</p><p>Microsoft was accused by i4i of infringing on a 1998 XML patent in its Word 2003 and Word 2007 programs.</p><p>Word uses XML, or Extensible Markup Language, to open .XML, .DOCX, and .DOCM files.</p><img src="http://admatch-syndication.mochila.com/images/ad.gif?aid=65884332&bid=informcom" /></div><div id="copyright"><div>

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