Canadians standing up for whats rightful theirs...maybe

Just a tad…

In this round Goliath (Microsoft) as nothing on David (Toronto’s i4i).  In a district court in Texas, three judges will bring a ruling to a patent case that may make or break the fabric of stealing another companies ideas.  Microsoft has had years of experience going to trial over patent infringement cases.  Usually paying off or buying out the companies that bring them to trial.  This case though happens to be a tad different.  i4i stood their ground and has fought back… Hard!

ROB Magazine preview An i for an i

Patent cage match! In this corner, from Toronto: i4i (head count: 30). And in this corner, from Redmond, Wash.: Microsoft (head count: 93,000). Good thing i4i has a pugilist for chairman

John Daly

From Friday’s Globe and MailLast updated on Wednesday, Sep. 23, 2009

Whatever the final outcome, Toronto software manufacturer i4i Inc.’s battle with Microsoft Inc. would make an entertaining movie—a computer-geek version of My Cousin Vinny. There’s the quaint rural locale: Tyler, Texas, one of a handful of towns that have made the eastern part of the state the epicentre of American—and therefore global—technology patent law. And there’s the climactic scene from the final day of the trial this past May: Judge Leonard Davis reading a note from the deliberating jury: “We need a whiteboard, two coloured markers and a calculator.”

When those words were uttered, it was obvious that i4i had won. The jury, which had only been deliberating for a couple of hours, had clearly concluded that Microsoft had infringed on i4i’s patents with some versions of its flagship Word software since the early 2000s. All that was left was to tote up the damages: $200 million (U.S.) for i4i, a 30-employee David to Microsoft’s Goliath.

Unfortunately, real-life courtroom conflicts are rarely as quick and colourful as My Cousin Vinny. There are often several sequels—messy, grinding, expensive and inconclusive sequels. As of early September, i4i, which is mostly owned by chairman Loudon Owen’s venture capitalfirm, McLean Watson, and i4i’s founder and chief technology officer, Michel Vulpe, still hadn’t collected a penny. But the company was on a roll. In August, Judge Davis increased the award to $290 million (U.S.). He also issued a permanent injunction—the first ever directed at Microsoft—ordering the company to, in effect, stop selling all current versions of its Word and Office software packages in the United States by Oct. 10. That’s no small hit: Office generated $17 billion (U.S.) in worldwide sales for Microsoft last year.

Read more at the Globe and Mail’s ROB Magazine ~ http://www.theglobeandmail.com/report-on-business/rob-magazine/an-i-for-an-i/article1296011/