San Francisco (CA) – The US Court of Appeals has accepted Microsoft’s request to postpone a controversial injunction that would have barred sales of its popular Word application. The injunction – imposed by a Texas-based district court in August – was ordered after Microsoft was found to have infringed on a custom XML patent owned by i4i.
i4i chairman Loudon Owen responded to the decision by noting that while Microsoft may have won a temporary stay, it would still have to face a comprehensive federal review of the case. According to Owen, i4i is expected to file its responding brief with the Court on September 8, 2009.
“Defendant-Appellant Microsoft claims it may have to stop distributing Word and Office in the US market until it can redesign both products. Microsoft’s scare tactics about the consequences of the injunction cannot shield it from the imminent review of the case by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeal on the September 23 appeal,” said Owen.
“i4i is confident that the final judgment in favor of i4i, which included a finding of willful patent infringement by Microsoft and an injunction against Microsoft Word, was the correct decision and that i4i will prevail on the appeal.”
Owen added that Microsoft’s time would eventually “run out.”
“To paraphrase the great heavyweight boxing champion Joe Louis, ‘they can run, but they can’t hide.'”
See also
HP and Dell launch legal blitzkrieg against i4i
i4i pledges to ‘vigorously enforce’ XML patent as Microsoft appeals injunction
Microsoft appeals in XML patent row
i4i ‘not interested’ in bringing Microsoft to its knees
