The software giant filed a motion Wednesday to stay a permanent injunction set forth by a U.S. District Court in Eastern Texas. On Aug. 12, Judge Leonard Davis ruled Microsoft was infringing on patents allegedly owned by i4i, a Toronto, Canada-based technology company, for custom XML in Word 2003 and Word 2007.

As a result, Microsoft was ordered to pay in excess of $290 million and was issued a permanent injunction for the "449 patent." The judge ruled that Microsoft willfully infringed on the patent and permanently enjoined Microsoft from selling Word 2003 and Word 2007 in the United States and using any infringing future Word products to open an XML file containing custom XML.

With its motion for a stay, Micrsoft is hoping to get the injuction against selling Word lifted while the case is being appealed.

Fighting Back

At the heart of the debate is the technology used in Word. Typically a document in a computer program has two distinct parts, the content (the text the user creates) and the structure (the coding). Specifically, i4i said it developed and patented a method for separating markup tags from content when creating a formatted file that uses custom XML.

The injunction stems from i4i's lawsuit filed in March 2007 in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas -- a court considered a haven for small businesses that sue larger technology companies for patent infringement.

Microsoft, however, continues to dismiss i4i's claim and is now fighting the court ruling. The software giant filed a motion with the Court of Appeals on Tuesday for an expedited review of its appeal and to stay the permanent injunction while the appeal is pending, according to Kevin Kutz, a Microsoft spokesperson.

"These filings are not unusual in patent cases," Kutz said. "As we've maintained throughout this process, we believe the evidence clearly demonstrates that we do not infringe and that the i4i patent is invalid. We look forward to filing our appeal and to Court of Appeals review."

"The appeal was fully expected, given the signifcance of the case and the flagship status of Microsoft Word to the defendant," said Loudon Owen, chairman of i4i. "I4i will continue to vigourously enforce its patent. We firmly believe the jury verdict and judgment were both fair and correct and we have been vindicated through the process."

Exit Strategies

It's not yet clear what will come from Microsoft's appeal.

One of two scenarios will come out of this case. One, Microsoft simply settles out of court with i4i. Two, both companies fight over who owns the patent and drag out the case for years to come.

As for consumers -- well, they'll have to watch to see what kind of action there will be on store shelves.