ReadWriteWeb

The U.S. Supreme Court (PDF)has ruled that Microsoft is liable for $290 million damages for patent infringement for technology used in building its Word software.

The decision upholds a 2009 ruling in which Microsoft was found guilty of infringement on the patents of the Toronto-based i4i. Microsoft had appealed the verdict, but the Supreme Court agreed with the lower courts' decision, with an unanimous ruling announced today.

i4i holds a patent for building a method of processing custom XML, a method i4i claimed - and the courts haveagreed - that Microsoft violated with its 2003 and subsequent versions of Word.

Despite a letter from Apple lawyers last week stating that its licensing agreements protected iOS app developers, Lodsys is moving forward with its lawsuits against developers for patent infringement.

Lodsys owns four patents that it claims app developers must pay to use, and in a series of blog posts today, Lodsys outlined its plans to continue its legal efforts to obtain those payments.

The notorious U.S. patent 6,411,947, a broad "method" for automatically classifying and responding to email inquiries known as the Firepond/Polaris patent, has finally been invalidated after 12 years on the books.

The patent was on the Electronic Frontier Foundation's list of top ten most bogus patents because it claimed nothing more than a system using natural language processing to select and send responses to customers' online or email inquires.

Three new patent applications that just became public on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO) website reveal that Apple is now patenting ideas for mobile applications. Specifically, these patents applications describe iPhone apps that would aid in making travel arrangements, booking hotels and shopping.

The patent applications were uncovered this morning by wireless news site Unwired, which called the development "scary" and equated Apple to a patent troll. If granted, these apps would allow Apple to patent ways in which mobile applications function, including everything from mobile boarding passes to store locator functions.

A familiar character has entered the stage for Salesforce.com. Attorney David Boies is bringing his celebrated fame back again to take on Microsoft, the company he defeated ten years ago in the U.S. Justice Department's landmark anti-trust case against the software giant.

Salesforce.com filed suit today, claiming that Microsoft is violating patents across its .Net environment and Sharepoint. Salesforce.com claims Microsoft should have known about the risk of infringement, claiming the violations are patently obvious.

Microsoft filed a lawsuit today in the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle, against Salesforce.com for infringement of nine Microsoft patents, according to Horacio Gutierrez, vice president and deputy general counsel of Intellectual Property and Licensing.

Although the frequent target of such suits, the Redmond, Washington-based Microsoft itself has only filed patent infringement suits four times in its history.