I4i may be the most important technology company that you’ve never heard of. The Toronto-based business was founded in 1993 by Michel Vulpe and considers itself to be a “world leader in the design and development of collaborative content solutions and technologies.” But to you and me? It’s the company that beat Microsoft.
In May of this year, i4I won a $200 million award against computer giant Microsoft for patent infringement. The verdict is the fourth largest jury verdict in the US and the second-largest patent jury award this year.
This week, i4I added to its monetary damages. In addition to the $200 million award, the company is entitled to “enhanced damages” of $40 million.
But the money, despite being huge, isn’t what has people talking. The company won something more: an injunction against Microsoft. A federal judge has ruled that Microsoft may not ship Word in a form that uses I4i’s custom XML technology. XML is short for Extensible Markup Language and is a key software component of Word. It’s a sort of alphabet that is designed to make computer data human-readable.
i4I Chairman Loudon Owen is quick to point out that it is not the company’s goal to eliminate Word from the marketplace, saying ”The injunction is not saying there is no more Word for the world. That is not our intention and that would not be a sensible remedy.”
The injunction bars Microsoft from selling Word in the US in its current form. Microsoft has 60 days to appeal, an option that is clearly in Microsoft’s plans.
Speculation is also rampant that Microsoft may just buy out I4i to make the whole thing go away. For now, Owen is being coy about any partnership or acquisition plans, responding only that “Microsoft is too big for us to buy at this point.”
You can read the injunction (downloads as pdf) here.
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Vista never did work out for them, now Office 2007 is targeted (XML is the key to file system for all of Office 2007). I’ve been using iWork and Open Office more and more. iWork is better for most simple things: writing a letter, doing a quick spreadsheet and Keynote is, IMHO, far better than PowerPoint. OpenOffice is very good, particularly for free. But when it comes to formatting big documents or creating a really powerful, macro-driven spreadsheet, I still default back to Office.