Microsoft has 60 days to quit selling Word or cough up some cash

A court in patent-friendly Eastern Texas has issued an injunction stating Microsoft will have to stop selling and demonstrating Microsoft Word within 60 days.  At issue are the rights to XML in reading and writing XML, DOCX, and DOCM files.  Presumably, this affects Mac Office 2008 customers as well.

The judge ruled that Microsoft Word’s XML systems violate patents by Toronto-based i4i Inc and specifically their 1998 XML patent #5,787,449.  MS will have to pay i4i about $290 million in damages.

Realistically speaking, Microsoft will have to cough up some cash and/or file appeals to get this thing sorted out, something they have developed a real knack for over the years.