Court upholds ruling against Microsoft in patent case

A US court of appeals barred Microsoft on Tuesday from selling certain versions of its popular Word program and ordered it to pay 290 million dollars in a patent dispute with a Canadian company.
The US Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit upheld a jury verdict and lower court ruling in the patent case filed against the US software giant by Toronto-based i4i Inc nearly three years ago.
"This ruling is clear and convincing evidence that our case was just and right, and that Microsoft willfully infringed our patent," i4i founder Michel Vulpe said in a statement.
"This is what we've been looking for since March 2007," added i4i chairman Loudon Owen.
"We are vindicated and we're appreciative but we're not surprised because we believed from the outset that we had a great case and that the trial judge made the right decision," Owen told AFP.