The United States Supreme Court has issued a ruling against Microsoft today in regards to the i4i patent infringement issue that was originally raised some time ago. The judges unanimously decided to uphold a lower court's ruling that Microsoft infringed upon the Toronto based i4i, custom XML technology.
Microsoft has in turn be charged with a figure of $290 million in damages to i4i and has additionally been ordered to remove the patented technology from the Microsoft Word software, which originally caused the situation to flare up. The case however dates back to 2007, with this occurrence being Microsoft's last appeal.
According to Paul Thurrott, the software giant apparently tried several last effort attempts to thwart i4i's case, however the Supreme Court decided to ignore the evidence Microsoft gave due to it coming in relatively last minute. The judges also noted that the evidence that was provided, was not of the quality they felt they could use in the case.
Several high profile companies amongst others such as Apple, Google and Verizon were backing Microsoft in what they felt might be a chance to change what is decided as a legal standard for companies facing legal suits over invalid patents.
Microsoft, clearly disappointed by the decision, released a statement through a company spokesperson after the court issued the ruling in which they stated "This case raised an important issue of law which the Supreme Court itself had questioned in an earlier decision and which we believed needed resolution. While the outcome is not what we had hoped for, we will continue to advocate for changes to the law that will prevent abuse of the patent system and protect inventors who hold patents representing true innovation."
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