Texas Jury Stings Microsoft for $200M

I guess the third trial's the charm for patent holders looking to collect big money from Microsoft for patent infringement. After winning one case on summary judgment on the eve of trial, and settling another one mid-way through, Microsoft decided to gamble on the jury yesterday and lost. Here is a snippet of today's article from IP 360:

"A federal jury on Wednesday found that Microsoft Corp. willfully infringed i4i Inc.’s patent covering document-formatting software and handed down a verdict awarding the small Canadian company $200 million.

Concluding an eight-day trial in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, a federal jury supported i4i’s claims that Microsoft incorporated its patented technology in a range of operating system products, including Word 2003 and Word 2007

The $200 million award includes compensation for lost profits and royalties.

Microsoft infringed U.S. Patent Number 5,787,499, which covers software controlling document architecture and content and enables individuals to manipulate electronic documents without using manually embedded command codes."

Microsoft had apparently defended the charges on inequitable conduct grounds. Arguing, the plaintiffs were "aware of the structure, storage, manipulation, creation, modification and maintenance of a document in versions of Microsoft Word that existed prior to the filing of the application leading to the ‘499 patent."

Them's fightin' words in Texas. Perhaps a more conciliatory approach would have shaved 8 or even 9 figures off of that damages number?