i4i Case Heard in Court of Appeals

WASHINGTON - The United States Federal Circuit Court of Appeals, in Washington D.C., a panel of three judges heard the appeal of i4i v. Microsoft. This was an appeal from the August 11, 2009 Final Judgment that ruled in favor of i4i and found that Microsoft had willfully infringed i4i's U.S. Patent No. 5,787,449, issued in 1998.

At trial, the Final Judgment ordered Microsoft to pay an award in excess of $290 million USD to i4i. The Honorable Judge Leonard Davis of the Eastern District Federal Court in Tyler, Texas, also issued a Permanent Injunction against Defendant Microsoft selling its flagship Word product in the USA unless it removes custom XML which infringes i4i's patent. On September 3, 2009, the Court of Appeals granted a stay of the injunction pending appeal.

Loudon Owen, Chairman of i4i, says, "As we expected, Microsoft repeated the same line of argument that was unsuccessful at trial. We are confident i4i will prevail." Mr. Owen adds, "This case is critical not just for i4i but also so all entrepreneurs and inventors can enforce their property rights created by patents. Intellectual property is the lifeblood of invention."

Michel Vulpe, Founder and Chief Technology Officer of i4i, says, "We believe the Judge and jury reached the correct decision at trial, and the damages and injunction were both fair and necessary for i4i." Mr. Vulpe adds, "We are grateful to our partners, our legal counsel McKool Smith, and Parker Bunt & Ainsworth, and our appeal counsel from Finnegan, especially the inimitable Don Dunner."

i4i is a global technology company headquartered in Toronto, Canada.