According to SeattlePI, Microsoft was ordered not to sell Word in the United States by Judge Leonard Davis. i4i Inc. has made an announcment that “prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML,”.
i4i alleges Microsoft violated its 1998 patent (No. 5,787,449) on a method for reading XML. i4i is rumoured to make a deal with Microsoft that should see the popular Office product remain on shelves across the US.
Davis also ordered Microsoft to pay i4i more than $290 million in damages. Microsoft is currently appealing the decision.
Reminds me of the time Intel tried to patent the number 386 and hence the reason “Pentium” was created.