Judge Davis of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas entered a final judgement against Microsoft today, following a jury verdict issued on May 20, 2009.

The suit originated in 2007, when Canadian software firm i4i Ltd sued Microsoft for infringing their U.S. Patent 5,787,499.  The suit alleged that Microsoft knowingly infringed on this patent in its Word application and its Vista operating system.

The judgement entered today includes a permanent injunction prohibiting Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products capable of opening .XML, .DOCX, or DOCM files containing custom XML.  Microsoft must comply with the injunction within sixty days.  Microsoft is also required to pay total damages and interest of more than $290 million to i4i Ltd.

Interesting article on why this shouldn’t worry Word users here.

Update: Good blogpost here that breaks down the injunction terms, infringed claims, and more

A Texas-based company called TechRadium filed suit against Twitter Tuesday, August 4, 2009, in the Southern District of Texas, alleging patent infringement.  TechRadium is a technology company that makes mass notification systems which provide a platform where one message can be sent to multiple recipients over various types of devices.

The complaint alleges that Twitter infringes on three TechRadium patents: 7,130,389 (issued October 31, 2006), 7,496,183 (issued February 4, 2009), and 7,519,165 (issued April 14, 2009).  TechRadium is not just looking for a payout here, but has requested punitive damages and a permanent injunction.  Effectively, TechRadium wants to shut Twitter down and clean them out.

This lawsuit probably does not come as a surprise to Twitter.  Actually, in some ways it was expected by the company, although the plaintiff may have been the unknown variable.  Mistakenly leaked internal Twitter documents from a February 2009 strategy meeting were posted last month by TechCrunch.com, in which the expectation of legal action were discussed.  Specifically, the documents reveal that Twitter expected to be “sued for patent infringement, repeatedly and often.”  The same memo queried “should we get a great patent attorney to proactively go after these patents?”  I hope they followed up on that question!

This will be one to watch . . . and tweet about while we can.

August 18, 2009 - Update: Free outside counsel scouring TechRadium patents to aid Twitter in legal battle, read more here.

The legal battle continues, and it just got more interesting!

The TiVo patent at the center of this controversy is currently embroiled in reexamination proceedings with the USPTO.  Monday, August 3, 2009, the USPTO rejected two of the patent claims in the TiVo patent in a preliminary finding of invalidity.  The rejected claims, claims 31 and 61, cover the features that allow TV shows to be stored and played back.

This could be the break EchoStar needs to swing the legal proceedings in it’s favor, and at the least bolster their arguments on appeal.  In response to the USPTO action, however, TiVo issued a press release today, which stated: “This is an initial step in the lengthy process known as ‘reexamination,’ and it is not unusual for the PTO to provide a preliminary finding of invalidity and to then later find that the claims are valid after hearing an explanation from the patent owner.”

The saga continues . . .

This week I attended a luncheon featuring Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas as the keynote speaker. It was an incredible opportunity to hear a sitting Supreme Court justice in person, speaking about the path by which he reached his current position, as well as the role he plays on the current Court. Not only that, but his personal story is one that encapsulates the American dream – a young boy born into extreme poverty rises up to become one of the greatest men in America. His story exemplifies the truth that anyone can achieve anything with the freedoms we have here in this country.

The only thing that shocked me, though I suppose it really should not have, was the utter lack of publicity his arrival and time in Dallas generated. Not one local news outlet highlighted the event, to my knowledge, nor even mentioned that a sitting Supreme Court Justice was in town! The local newspaper did not write up the event in advance of or after its occurence. The only place I could find mention of the event was on blogs, and organizational websites of participating organizations.

Compare that to the previous year, when retired Justice Sandra Day O’Connor came to Dallas. Months before her arrival, news outlets reported on her coming and gave information about the event. The public was made aware of the opportunity and her time here received much press. I attended that event myself, and enjoyed hearing her persepective about her time on the Court. The question is, why the difference? Why does one retired Justice receive an enormous amount of attention, while another sitting Justice receives barely any at all?

The answer may be found in the lone editorial reviewing Justice Thomas’ new book, in which the columnist writes:

If Clarence Thomas were a liberal, he’d be widely regarded as an American hero.

(interestingly, although the DMN editorial was written only a week prior to the event this past Tuesday, no mention is made of Justice Thomas coming to Dallas)

Why shop around for a lawyer when they will come to you? Forget flipping through the yellow pages! Just list your case on the new SueEasy website, and before long, lawyers will be calling you, just begging to take your case. Frivolous lawsuits just got easier – SueEasy in fact.

Read more here