Mtazamaji
JF-Expert Member
- Feb 29, 2008
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Microsoft must pay copyright cash
The US Supreme Court has ruled that Microsoft must pay a 290 million dollar (£178m) judgment awarded to a small Canadian software company for infringing on one of its patents inside its popular Microsoft Word programme.
The high court unanimously refused to throw out the judgment against the world's largest software maker.
Toronto-based i4i sued Microsoft in 2007, saying it owned the technology behind a tool used in Microsoft Word. The technology in question gave Word 2003 and Word 2007 users an improved way to edit XML, which is computer code that tells the programme how to interpret and display a document's contents.
The lower courts said Washington-based Microsoft wilfully infringed on the patent and ordered the world's largest software maker to pay i4i 290 million US dollars and to stop selling versions of Word containing the infringing technology.
Microsoft wanted the multimillion-dollar judgment against it erased because it claimed a judge used the wrong standard when instructing the jury that came up with the award.
The software company said a jury should determine whether a patent is invalid by a "preponderance" of the evidence instead of the more heightened "clear and convincing" evidence standard instructed by the judge. The Supreme Court said the "clear and convincing" standard was the correct one.
Soma full story @ Microsoft must pay copyright cash - Yahoo! News
Haya wadau mambo ya software patent hayo. Have your say
The US Supreme Court has ruled that Microsoft must pay a 290 million dollar (£178m) judgment awarded to a small Canadian software company for infringing on one of its patents inside its popular Microsoft Word programme.
The high court unanimously refused to throw out the judgment against the world's largest software maker.
Toronto-based i4i sued Microsoft in 2007, saying it owned the technology behind a tool used in Microsoft Word. The technology in question gave Word 2003 and Word 2007 users an improved way to edit XML, which is computer code that tells the programme how to interpret and display a document's contents.
The lower courts said Washington-based Microsoft wilfully infringed on the patent and ordered the world's largest software maker to pay i4i 290 million US dollars and to stop selling versions of Word containing the infringing technology.
Microsoft wanted the multimillion-dollar judgment against it erased because it claimed a judge used the wrong standard when instructing the jury that came up with the award.
The software company said a jury should determine whether a patent is invalid by a "preponderance" of the evidence instead of the more heightened "clear and convincing" evidence standard instructed by the judge. The Supreme Court said the "clear and convincing" standard was the correct one.
Soma full story @ Microsoft must pay copyright cash - Yahoo! News
Haya wadau mambo ya software patent hayo. Have your say
