Everyone is out to get Microsoft! Microsoft has become so rich that it seems that everybody sees it as a legal cash-cow that they can get a nice sum of money out of by suing. If it’s not the EU trying to milk money from Microsoft it’s someone else.

<< I chose this graphic because the situation as a whole is becoming farcical, to say the least.

– Having said that, though; Microsoft may have erred on the side of unethicality on numerous occasions in the past. – And now another of their previous misdemeanours has come back and bitten them in the ass:

Judge Leonard Davis in the US State of Texas has ruled that Microsoft must stop selling Microsoft Word in the US because of a patent infringement. Microsoft infringed US Patent # 5,787,449, filed on July 28th 1988 by i4i of Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Microsoft have also been ordered to pay more than $290 million in damages to i4i. This has been increased from the previous $200 million order issued on 26 May "for its wilful infringement of the i4i patent".

The judge ordered a ban on "selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or .DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML." XML is an integral part of Microsoft Word which allows users to customise the format of their documents and makes them readable across multiple word-processing applications.

Microsoft spokesman, Kevin Kutz, said that Microsoft was disappointed and that it would appeal. "We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We will appeal the verdict,"

Microsoft has been ordered to comply with the ban within 60 days, but will it comply or simply ignore the ruling as it seeks to overturn it? I get the feeling that it’ll pursue the latter and simply ignore while it seeks to have the ruling overturned. What do you think?

- Maybe it’s a case of i4i and tooth 4 tooth?