It’s been a long time coming but after losing a Texas lawsuit in 2009 and then appealing that case Microsoft was found guilty on Thursday of violating a portfolio of patents held by i4i Limited Partnership.
The U.S Supreme Court of Appeals found that Microsoft violated various XML-related patents found within older version of Microsoft Word. i4i claimed for years that Microsoft was in breach of patent laws.
Microsoft had offered at one point to license the patents from i4i, however they were never able to secure rights to the technology. Microsoft then claimed that the patents were invalid.
Since the technology is no longer used on Microsoft Office products users should not be affected by the deal, however Microsoft will have to pony up $290 million, not a small chunk of change even for one of the world’s largest corporations.
