In just the last few days, a judge in Texas issued a ruling that prevents Microsoft from selling its popular Word product because of a patent infringement issue with another company, i4i.

The dispute revolves around patents relating to XML technology that Microsoft uses in its Word offering.  The judge ordered MSFT to pay a significant fine and to stop selling Word within 60 days.

One odd point in the whole process is that the ruling came from a court in Texas, while Microsoft is headquartered in Washington and i4i is from Canada.  Seems quite strange.

It will be quite interesting to see how this all plays out given the huge company that Microsoft is and the big blow this injunction would be to their profits.

Hat tip to BBC News…