Microsoft Word sales banned

Welcome to Big Boards. We hope you like what you see and decide to visit often. Big Boards offers the Zathyus network our long famous Resource Archives, our extensive search indexes, and our info-packed resource forums.

Our team has recently opened a new project called Planet Nexus, where a bold new experiment in forum promotion is taking place. We call it nexworking. NexusTree offers social networking pages for forums in a fully automated format. Your NexusTree page is created instantly when your join the nexus. Find out more by visiting Planet Nexus, and become part of the nexworking revolution.

If you're already a member please log in to your account for additional access:

Microsoft Word sales banned

Topic Started: Dec 23 2009, 09:00 AM (101 Views)

Codes Rock

Dec 23 2009, 09:00 AM Post #1

<?php echo 'Codes Rock rocks!'; ?>

Posts:: 202
Group:: Members
Member: #11,143
Joined:: January 31, 2009

Mood: Mellow

A federal appeals court today ordered Microsoft to stop selling its popular Word software in less than three weeks, rejecting the company's appeal and confirming the ruling of a lower court.

Microsoft will comply with the injunction, a company spokesman said today. "We are moving quickly to comply with the injunction, which takes effect on January 11, 2010," said Kevin Kutz, the director of public affairs for Microsoft, in an e-mail.

The decision by the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit follows a late-September hearing before a panel of three judges, during which Microsoft argued that a jury verdict earlier this year should be overturned or a retrial should be ordered. It also asked that an injunction ordered by U.S. District Court Judge Leonard Davis be struck.

The case has attracted interest primarily because of that injunction, which originally was to bar Microsoft from selling Word as of Oct. 10, 2009. That injunction, however, was suspended after Microsoft threatened that sales chaos would result , and several major computer makers, including Hewlett-Packard and Dell, stepped forward to say the same.

According to Microsoft, it would take five months to modify Word, and the company wouldn't be able to sell Word 2007, and the Office 2007 suite that includes the word processor, during that time.

The appeals court agreed with Microsoft on the five-month delay. "We conclude that the district court erred by ordering Microsoft to comply with the injunction within sixty days," the Court of Appeals' order read. Instead, said the judges, the only evidence entered into the record was Microsoft's five-month timetable, which the Jan. 11, 2010, deadline allows.

Canadian developer i4i first sued Microsoft in 2007, accusing the U.S. company of illegally using its XML editing technology in the popular Word software line. In May, a Texas jury said Microsoft violated i4i's patent, and ordered it to pay i4i nearly $300 million in damages. The judge issued his injunction on Aug. 11.

Read More