http://www.bcs.org/server.php?show=conWebDoc.33922Microsoft has been ordered to stop selling some versions of its Microsoft Office and Word programs by a federal court after losing a court battle over patents.
The company had appealed against a ruling that said that certain aspects of the Word program infringed on patents owned by Canadian software firm i4i.
Microsoft was also ordered to pay $290 million (£181.89 million) to the Canadian company.
Kevin Kutz, director of public affairs at Microsoft said that the software giant had already 'put the wheels in motion to remove this little-used feature from these products'.
He added: 'The beta versions of Microsoft Word 2010 and Microsoft Office 2010, which are available now for downloading, do not contain the technology covered by the injunction.
'While we are moving quickly to address the injunction issue, we are also considering our legal options, which could include a request for a rehearing by the Federal Circuit Court of Appeals en banc or a request for a writ of certiorari from the U.S. Supreme Court.'
The software at the centre of the case is used to open .XML, .DOCX and .DOCM files on Microsoft Word.
It seems microsoft doesn't always get it's own way. If you want to keep that function, make sure you keep your eyes open for an update that will try to remove the function from existing copies.
