Microsoft Loses Patent Case to Canadian Startup

A four-year legal battle ended today with the U.S. Supreme Court deciding that Microsoft stole patented technology from tiny i4i.

The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that Microsoft will have to pay a small Canadian tech company $290 million for copyright infringement. Toronto's i4i claimed that Microsoft illegally used its XML editing software in Microsoft Word's 2003 and 2007 editions without permission. Microsoft had been supported in the case by other tech titans, such as Google, Apple, and Cisco. But the court unanimously upheld 30 years of patent law by siding with i4i, which said it would invest the new money back into the company. Microsoft has also been ordered to recall from stores any remaining copies of Word that used the patent.