Microsoft will have its day in court this week.
OK, so the software maker still spends lots of days in court, even if it has settled many of the antitrust cases that once filled its Outlook calendar. It will make its case to an appeals court for why it shouldn't face an injunction banning sales of Word that contain a custom XML feature.
Earlier this year, a federal jury found that recent versions of Word infringe on a patent held by I4i and ordered Microsoft to pay the Canadian company US$200 million. Last month, a federal judge hiked the damage award and also ordered the injunction.
Both sides have made their arguments (and counter arguments, and counter-counter arguments abundantly clear), so now it will be up to the federal appeals court to weigh those positions.
For its part, I4i has said it is not seeking to have Word pushed off the shelves entirely. It just wants the offending code removed.
If it loses its appeal, Microsoft could try to offer an XML feature that behaves differently, pull the custom XML feature from Word, or pursue some sort of settlement.
This article was first published as a blog post on CNET News.
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