US court tells Microsoft to stop selling Word

Microsoft has been ordered to stop selling Microsoft Word in the US, after finding itself on the wrong end of patent infringement suit.

The US District Court for the Eastern District of Texas sided with technology company i4i, which alleged that Microsoft had willfully infringed a patent relating to the creation of custom XML documents.

The software giant has been ordered to stop selling Microsoft Word - the cornerstone of its Office suite - in its current form within 60 days.

There's also a fair amount of cash involved. Microsoft must pay $40 million for the initial infringement, $37 million in prejudgment interest, including an additional $21,102 per day until a final judgement is reached in the case. The court also ordered Microsoft to pay $144,060 per day until the date of final judgement for post-verdict damages.

We're still awaiting Microsoft's comments on the verdict, though reports suggested it is planning an appeal. However, even if the ruling stands the software giant could simply strip the feature from Word, preventing the need for it to be removed from the shelves.