McKool Smith: Appeals Court Upholds Patent Infringement Verdict Against Microsoft

DALLAS, Dec. 22  /PRNewswire/ -- McKool Smith is announcing that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit today upheld a $290 million verdict and permanent injunction against Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft Corp. (NASDAQ: MSFT) in a Texas patent infringement case won by Toronto-based technology provider i4i Inc.

In its ruling today, the Federal Circuit affirmed the May 20, 2009 jury verdict of $200 million for Microsoft's willful infringement of an i4i patent covering a document production system that implements what Microsoft has called Custom XML. Judge Leonard Davis in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, Tyler Division, later ruled that Microsoft should pay i4i an additional $90 million in damages and prejudgment interest.

The appeals court also affirmed the earlier permanent injunction. The court has ordered Microsoft to comply with the injunction by Jan. 11, 2010.

"We are grateful that the Federal Circuit has agreed that Judge Davis and the jurors in the Eastern District of Texas made the right decisions in this case," says McKool Smith principal Douglas Cawley, counsel for i4i.

During trial, attorneys from McKool Smith and Tyler, Texas-based Parker, Bunt & Ainsworth successfully argued that Microsoft infringed U.S. Patent No. 5,787,449, issued to i4i in 1998. The patent covers software designed to manipulate "document architecture and content," which removed the need for individual, manually embedded command codes to control text formatting in electronic documents.

The McKool Smith team representing i4i includes firm principals Douglas Cawley, Gordon White, Jeff Carter, Kevin Burgess, Rosemary Snider, Jill Lynch, and Randy Carter; senior counsel Tom Fasone; of counsel Alfredo Silva; and associates Sarah Anderson, John Campbell, Austin Curry, Craig Donahue, Gretchen Harting, Jennifer Henry, Martin Robson, Joel Thollander, and Jonathan Yim.  Robert M. Parker from Parker, Bunt & Ainsworth was co-counsel.

McKool Smith is recognized as one of the premier trial law firms in the United States based on significant courtroom victories and substantial settlements for domestic and international clients. With more than 100 attorneys in Dallas, Austin, Houston, Marshall, New York, and Washington DC, McKool Smith handles bankruptcy matters and commercial, intellectual property and white collar litigation for companies and individuals, including major airlines, telecommunications companies, medical device manufacturers, oil & gas concerns, and many others. McKool Smith is recognized in The National Law Journal for winning more of the Top 100 Verdicts of 2008 than any other law firm in the country.

For more information, please contact Alan Bentrup at 800.559.4534, 713-553-3358 (cell) or . 

DATASOURCE: McKool Smith



CONTACT:  Alan Bentrup, 1-800-559-4534, or cell, [phone],

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