Back in May i4i, headquartered in Toronto, ON, Canada, received a $200m  patent infringement verdict from a federal jury who found that Microsoft Corp,  infringed on an i4i patent. At a jury trial,  i4i representatives said that Microsoft’s use of Word 2007 for processing XML documents with custom XML elements “willfully” infringed i4i’s Patent 449.

The ruling prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the US any Word products that have the capability of opening XML, .DOCX or DOCM files that contain custom XML.

The ruling is set to go into effect in 60 days. The judge has also granted an award and damages of $290m to i4i.

i4i, founded by Michel Vulpe in 1993 with about 30 employees works with its partners on the design and development of collaborative content solutions and technologies. Its products are use by a number of large companies, including many in the pharmaceutical sector, where it can number Amgen, Bausch & Lomb Pharmaceuticals, Bayer, Biogen through to Swartz Pharma AG, and Spectrum Pharmaceuticals as clients.

“We are disappointed by the court’s ruling,” said a Microsoft spokesman. “We believe the evidence clearly demonstrated that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We will appeal the verdict.”