This may not come as a surprise to anyone not living in Redmond, but Microsoft has suffered another defeat in its intellectual property battle with a company called i4i. Late last week, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit officially denied Microsoft’s petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc.
The petition amounted to a request for the decision we reported on last month to be undone. Neither side has to face any new injunctions or penalties, then; it’s just a matter of Microsoft losing one more chance to dodge the $240 million fine that’s been hanging over its corporate head for a while.
This pretty much leaves Microsoft with two options: write a large check to i4i, or appeal to the Supreme Court.
Loudon Owen, i4i’s chairman, is more than pleased with the direction things are going. He said in a statement, “i4i is delighted by this ruling from Federal Circuit Court of Appeals. This has been a long and arduous process, but this decision is a powerful reinforcement of the message that smaller enterprises and inventors who own intellectual property can and will be protected.”
Microsft, meanwhile, is considering its options and hasn’t officially committed to any course of action.
