In a severe jolt to Microsoft, a Texas judge has ordered Microsoft to stop selling any Word Products within 60 days, unless they make changes to the custom XML code which is patented by a company called i4i ^[1] of Toronto.

Judge Leonard Davis, of the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, ordered a permanent injunction that "prohibits Microsoft from selling or importing to the United States any Microsoft Word products that have the capability of opening .XML, .DOCX or DOCM files (XML files) containing custom XML," according to an announcement by the plaintiff, Toronto-based i4i Inc

In addition to that Microsoft has also been asked to pay $290 million in damages to i4i, however Microsoft plans to appeal the ruling, which is but obvious.

This lawsuit has apparently been file in March 2007 and is not the first one that Microsoft has lost.

If you were looking forward to use Word you might want to try out one of the Free Microsoft Word Alternatives ^[2] we put up for you earlier.

[via Seattle Pi ^[3] & Life Hacker ^[4]]