A U.S. federal appeals court has upheld a $290-million US judgment against Microsoft Corp. in a patent case launched by Toronto-based i4i Inc., and issued an injunction that will prevent the sale of its popular Word software.

A judge on Tuesday ordered Microsoft to stop selling Word, one of its premier products, in its current form due to patent infringement.

Microsoft has attempted to block the court-ordered end to sales of Microsoft Word over a patent dispute. But court papers show that company officers were aware of the patent when they took the infringing action.

...when I see that one attorney thinks there's an "easy technical work-around" for Microsoft's patent violation in Word, my alarm bells go off. There is no easy fix here, and, short of waving the white-flag, Microsoft may very well have to stop selling Word, and thus Microsoft Office, this fall.

A Texas judge ruled Tuesday that Microsoft cannot sell one of its flagship products, Word, in the United States because of patent infringement.

Although the mainstream media has tried to make it a big deal, a closer look at the recent court ruling ordering Microsoft to stop selling Word, shows it's really not going to have very much impact.

HP and Dell have asked the court to allow them to file amicus briefs in support of Microsoft's Emergency Motion to Stay Permanent Injunction Pending Appeal in the i4i patent litigation. I can't show you the documents yet, as they are not yet available electronically. I'm sure you could write them in your mind quite readily, though.

A ban on Microsoft selling certain versions of its flagship products Word and Office has begun.

This time it's Microsoft's turn to be bashed, but next time it may be an open-source company, or your company. Many big technology companies pay up to patent pirates, and while i4i isn't one of those and Microsoft talks big now, they may well end up paying up. U.S.