It looks like Microsoft has lost its appeal against a $290 million judgment upheld by a small Toronto-based company i4i Inc over willful infringement. The Canadian company holds patents relating to XML files. After the initial patent suit, Microsoft was temporarily banned from selling any Word products in the US “that have the capability of opening a .XML, .DOCX or .DOCM file containing custom XML”. The temporary ban has been uplifted followed by a permanent ban on all sales of infringing copies of Word as of 11 January 2010 in US.
Microsoft in response said that they have been preparing for this possibility since they were issued this injunction in August 2009. Copies of Microsoft Word 2007 and Office 2007 will have the banned feature removed,. Additionally, the beta versions of Microsoft Word 2010 and Office 2010 which are available now for downloading, does not contain the technology covered by the injunction.
(Source: DailyTech, Microsoft)