Patent fun: Microsoft Word sales banned in the US

As I understand the lawsuit, i4i took offense to the custom XML feature of word that allows users to define a custom schema and attach it to a document, and then markup the content based on the schema. That seems match some functionality that i4i sells with its products.

It doesn't seem to have anything to do with storing documents in XML, or the OOXML/ODF specs. OpenOffice.org isn't affected because it doesn't support adding custom markup to a document.

I'm very surprised at the damage award. I have trouble believing that "custom XML" is used by enough office users to affect i4i sales, much less to justify damages of nearly $300 million!