Microsoft asks for rehearing in Word case – but why? (seattlepi blogs)

About more than custom XML

This is more about future cases than the i4i lawsuit.

In its petition, Microsoft objects to the means by which Judge Leonard Davis determined Microsoft had to pay i4i $200 million (which was later augmented by court fees and interest). It was Davis, of U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas, who initially ruled against Microsoft in August.

Microsoft questions the admissibility of an expert testimony, during the trial last summer, that determined the damages amount. The expert witness, Microsoft says, used hypothetical royalty rates for a hypothetical Microsoft-i4i partnership, then multiplied those figures out over several years.

"This case is symptomatic of the new wave of patent litigation where aggressive plaintiffs substitute purported 'expert' testimony for actual evidence and seek lottery-like verdicts without any connection to the real world," Microsoft's petition states.

Microsoft asks for rehearing in Word case – but why?