Microsoft Loses Second Word Appeal, Owes $240M

Microsoft has lost its second appeal against a ruling that called for the software giant to fork out nearly a quarter of a billion in damages for patent infringement.

Late last year, after a lengthy legal battle, Microsoft was ordered to alter word and pay Canadian-based company, i4i, $240 million in damages. Microsoft was found guilty of infringing upon XML-related patents owned by i4i but Redmond appealed the decision calling it a "miscarriage of justice." In December, this appeal was denied and Microsoft filed another.

The second appeal has now been denied and the BBC reports that this time, the judges spelled things out for Microsoft, detailing the decision was made in the first place. The judges say there's evidence to suggest that Microsoft knew about the i4i infringements before it turned up in Office. Indeed, court documents released after the initial verdict was announced echo their thoughts.

Soon after the verdict was made public in August, court documents revealed that not only did Microsoft know about the infringement, the company hoped to render i4i's product obsolete with newer versions of Office.

In an email to a colleague, Martin Sawicki, a member of Microsoft's XML for Word development team said they had met with the i4i team.

"We saw [i4i's products] some time ago and met its creators. Word 11 will make it obsolete," said Sawicki. "It looks great for XP though," he added.

According to the BBC, Microsoft is waiting on word from the other appeal court judges who will decide if Redmond has grounds for a wider review of the case. If they decide that Microsoft does not have grounds for a review, the company can take its appeal to the Supreme Court.