Microsoft lawyer trickery cost an extra $40 million in Word case
Court records in the Microsoft Word/XML case show that Microsoft lawyers cost the firm an extra $40 million through shady practice. The trial judge added the penalty to a jury award after concluding the firm repeatedly misrepresented the law.
The jury had awarded i4i $200 million in damages after the court ruled that Microsoft had violated a patent in the way it incorporated XML documents into Word. Judge Leonard Davis added $50 million in costs and an extra $40 million as “enhancement” (that is, punishment) for the courtroom chicanery.
Davis wrote in his ruling that Microsoft’s arguments “were persistent, legally improper, and in direct violation of the Court’s instructions.” In particular he objected to a lawyer comparing the case to the banking crisis and likening i4i to a bank seeking a bailout.
Commentators are divided about what move is best for Microsoft to take next. The firm has 60 days to reach a settlement or have the verdict overturned; after that point it will not be allowed to sell Word in the U.S. in its current form.
Michael Vulpe, i4i’s founder, says the firm isn’t for sale (though doesn’t rule it out if the price is right) but says it is willing to license the relevant technology. He notes this option has been available to Microsoft for the past nine years.
Meanwhile the Seattle Post-Intelligencer believes Microsoft will appeal against the verdict and as ask a federal appeal to court to put the deadline on hold until an appeal is completed.
Opinion seems divided on how well an appeal would likely fare. One school of thought has it that Microsoft will easily be able to successfully argue that the patent is too vague to be enforceable. A rival theory says such arguments rarely succeed as they require an appeal court to declare that patent officials erred in their original decision.
Related Posts:
