Intellectual Property, Patent Infringement, Presumption of Validity, Burden of Proof
Ken

Intellectual Property, Patent Infringement, Presumption of Validity, Burden of Proof According to the case, Microsoft Corp. v. i4i Limited Partnership and Infrastructures for Information, Inc. (10-290) (2011), Microsoft was sued by the software entity i4i Limited Partnership and Infrastructures for Information Inc. The company alleged that i4i’s patent was infringed by Microsoft Word’s XML processing and editing functionalities (Microsoft Corp. v. i4i, 2011). Meanwhile, Microsoft put forth a counter lawsuit, challenging the patent registered by i4i was invalid under the on-sale bar provisions because the technology was sold more than one year before the patent was formally applied (Microsoft Corp. v. i4i, 2011). The software entity i4i Limited Partnership and Infrastructures for Information Inc. (henceforth referred to as "i4i"), is a computer software company that specializes in designing and selling computer software. In June 1994, i4i applied for a patent covering its innovative technology that enables the manipulation of the structure and content of an electronic document. This technology is commonly known as "markup language," and more specifically allows the placing of tags to facilitate the manipulation. One specific markup language, known as XML, allows users to customize their own tags. The overall entity of the document’s structure and tags is known as the "metacode." I4i subsequently applied and attained the necessary patent for this technology, legally referred to as the 449 patent (Microsoft Corp. v. i4i, 2011). In 2003, the petitioner of this case, Microsoft, began releasing versions of its Word program that provided the capabilities of editing XML. Therefore in 2007, i4i sued Microsoft because the XML functionality of Microsoft infringed