Microsoft Office Injunction Comes into Play

The injunction to prevent Microsoft Word being sold in the US is now in force, meaning the company has to release a new version of the offending software if it wants to continue selling it.

The injunction against Microsoft was obtained by the Canadian firm i4i, which claimed that the manner in which Microsoft implemented custom XML functionality in its Office packages infringed on its own patents. Indeed, the case was convincing enough that Microsoft, despite filing an appeal, has been ordered to cease sales of the software until the custom XML feature is removed.

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Microsoft Loses Word Appeal

Microsoft has lost its case to appeal the recent injunction that would see its word processor, Microsoft Word, either remove functionality or force the company to stop selling the application.

Word comes via TheRegister of the loss, which puts Microsoft in a particularly awkward position when it comes to its Office suite of applications. Microsoft must now drop XML functionality from Word, courts having ruled twice now that it infringed on patents owned by a software company called i4i. Still, it seems that Microsoft isn’t in quite as dreadful a position as many had imagined.