Microsoft has been slapped with yet another patent infringement fine recently for willfully including a Canadian company's technology in its Word 2003 and Word 2007 programs. The dispute centers on how the custom XML tagging features of these applications, which are used for encoding and displaying information, infringed on a patent from Toronto-based i4i.
The software giant must now pay $200 million in damages - though they are expected to appeal this decision. A Microsoft representative said the company was "disappointed" by the verdict, adding that the i4i patent is invalid, and would seek to have it reversed. This is the second time in two months that Microsoft has been found guilty of violating smaller firms' patents. Back in April, the company was ordered to pay $388 million in damages for infringing a patent held by anti-piracy software maker Uniloc - which they are also appealing.