Microsoft can keep selling Word, judge rules
The federal appeals panel held that Microsoft can continue to sell Word during its appeal of a patent-infringement ruling.
The U.S. Court of Appeals in Washington, D.C. has held that Microsoft can keep selling its Word software by granting a stay in a civil lawsuit, according to several news reports.
Microsoft filed an emergency motion to stay a ruling that ordered the company to stop selling Word in the United States. Microsoft’s motion said taking Word off store shelves and away from partners and customers would cause irreparable harm. The appeals court's ruling will allow Word sales to continue while the patent-infringement lawsuit is appealed, NewsFactor reported.
A Canadian company, i4i, won the original judgment. Microsoft allegedly violated patents that i4i holds on advanced XML features in recent versions of the popular word-processing software.