An injunction against Microsoft to stop them selling Word has occurred before: it was Microsoft vs i4i, where i4i held a patent for custom XML tagging, something used by Word in the way it saves files, which Microsoft wilfully infringed. Microsoft lost the case and was barred from selling any versions of Word that contained the custom XML; however the injunction was delayed upon request until Microsoft could appeal the case.
Microsoft appealed the case, and today, once again, lost. The US Court of Appeals has ordered Microsoft to drop the Custom XML editing in Word, which has effectively banned current versions from sale and also prevents all versions of the entire Office suites from sale because they contain Word. The injunction will come into effect on January 11, 2010.
However, Microsoft has said that they have been preparing for this outcome since August, and will be ready to distribute copies of Office 2007 and Word 2007 without the feature by the injunction date. Microsoft Office 2010 will not be barred from distribution because it doesn’t contain the infringing technology, so you can keep downloading the beta all you like.
