According to the Seattle Post-Intelligencer, a federal judge has ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word products that “that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML.”
That’s, like, all of them, as Lifehacker points out.
The injunction takes effect in October. Microsoft will appeal the order and the $290 million in damages awarded to i4i, a Canadian firm that holds a patent on a method for reading XML.
Microsoft today announced that its Office applications — which include Word — would be made available on Nokia mobile phones. How will the court ruling affect that alliance?
The computing giant recently scored a major victory by persuading Yahoo to surrender control of the Internet’s second most popular search engine and help it take on Google.
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UPDATE: Microsoft can continue selling Word as it appeals the patent ruling, a court said Sept. 3.