Microsoft To Pay $200M For Patent Infringement
And the fines just keep on coming. Shortly after Intel was dealt a staggering $1.45 billion fine for alleged antitrust practices against the likes of AMD, Microsoft is now facing a slightly less painful $200 million payment to software ware i4i Ltd. This week, a Texas federal jury ordered Microsoft to pay the aforementioned Canadian outfit nearly a quarter-billion dollars for damages for infringing a patent.
Those familiar with such matters will recognize that Texas, particularly Marshall, is somewhat of a patent troll haven, but obviously things worked out for the relatively unknown outfit. Of note, Microsoft has more matters than just this to deal with, ensuring that its lawyers stay adequately busy. In fact, it's currently wading through a number of legal battles, though it firmly asserts that this particular one is "unsupported."
i4i, which is a privately held maker of software for manipulating documents based in Toronto, sued claiming that Microsoft "knowingly infringed one of its patents in its Word processing application and its Vista operating system." A Microsoft spokesman noted that the "evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid," continuing on to say that "we believe this award of damages is legally and factually unsupported, so we will ask the court to overturn the verdict." Needless to say, the war here is far from over, but things are certainly not leaning in Microsoft's favor at the moment.
Those familiar with such matters will recognize that Texas, particularly Marshall, is somewhat of a patent troll haven, but obviously things worked out for the relatively unknown outfit. Of note, Microsoft has more matters than just this to deal with, ensuring that its lawyers stay adequately busy. In fact, it's currently wading through a number of legal battles, though it firmly asserts that this particular one is "unsupported."
i4i, which is a privately held maker of software for manipulating documents based in Toronto, sued claiming that Microsoft "knowingly infringed one of its patents in its Word processing application and its Vista operating system." A Microsoft spokesman noted that the "evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid," continuing on to say that "we believe this award of damages is legally and factually unsupported, so we will ask the court to overturn the verdict." Needless to say, the war here is far from over, but things are certainly not leaning in Microsoft's favor at the moment.
