Microsoft to pay £178m for patent infringement

Small Canadian company wins court battle against the tech giant

Microsoft has been ordered by the US Supreme Court to pay a small Canadian company, i4i, $290m (£178m) for infringing a patent.

The legal battle began in 2007 when i4i first sued Microsoft for using a mark-up language it had developed, and argued it was used in releases of Word 2003 and 2007.

i4i's patented technology aimed to improve the processing and storing of content in documents.

In 2009, the US District Court stated that Microsoft had "unlawfully infringed" the patent and ordered the tech giant to pay £178m in damages.

Shortly after this decision was made, Microsoft appealed and the case was taken to the US Supreme Court.